Backed Blades From The Mcarthur River, Borroloola, Northern Territory

Increasing research in northern Australia continues to expand the known distribution of backed blades. It is now generally accepted that the distribution maps of 20 years ago reflect the distribution of research rather than of the artefacts themselves. The total number of such artefacts known from northern Australia is, however, still very small. During ethnographic fieldwork in the southern Gulf of Carpentaria in August 1989 the author had occasion to visit a public facility 4 km south of Borroloola overlooking the McArthur River (Fig.1). During an early visit a light scatter of artefacts was noticed in an area denuded through vehicle and pedestrian traffic. A cursory examination located two backed blades, one broken bifacial point and one small grindstone fragment in close association. Subsequent visits failed to locate any other artefact of these types. Figure 1 General site location As far as is known this is the northernmost occurrence of backed blades in Australia to date. This find complements a recent report on one backed blade from a rock shelter close to Robinson River station (Mulvaney and Pickering 1989:25). Previously backed blades in the Northern Territory were reported up to the Tennant Creek area (Smith and Cundy 198534-5)

Archaeology · Carpentaria · Distribution (mathematics · Geography · Northern territory · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology · Oceanography

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