The accumulation of charcoal within a midden at Cape Byron, northern New South Wales, during the last millennium

Bibliographic Data

ID11955435
AuthorsWilliam Boyd (0000-0002-8466-4669, Southern Cross University, corresponding author), W E Boyd, Jackie Collins, J P Collins, J Bell (0000-0002-5411-9379), J Mackintosh Bell (Southern Cross University)
Year2000
Volume51
Issue1
Pages21-27
Publication date2000-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAustralian Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0312-2417 • E-ISSN: 2470-0363
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03122417.2000.11681677
OpenAlexW2310005873
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited12

The analysis of the presence and distribution of wood and charcoal fragments often forms part of archaeological studies in Australia, providing either some measure of fluctuations in charcoal fragment abundance or sedimentation rate or sources for radiometric dating (e.g. Colley 1997; Lilley et al. 1998; Bird et al. 1998). However, there have been relatively few studies in which the range of species represented by the charcoal or wood remains has been studied in detail (cf. Hope 1998). The applicability of such study has been well demonstrated throughout the world, where the study of fossil wood and charcoal provides valuable ecological, bioarchaeological and human ecological information about the people and the places they inhabited during the period of occupation represented by the archaeological deposits. Such information includes insights into both practical aspects of daily life based on the use of natural resources, and conceptual relationships between people and their environment: the harvesting and collection of foodstuffs; the supply of materials for the construction of shelter, tools, weapons and other artefacts; the provision of fuels for heating and lighting; attitudes towards certain plants; articulation of beliefs in natural phenomena (e.g. Boyd 1988; Boyd and Kenworthy 1991-1992; Smart and Hoffman 1988; Â Pearsal 1989; Thompson 1995). In particular, the analysis of wood types fossilised in archaeological deposits provides the opportunity to examine the related issues of fuel wood collection and forest resource management. While studies may indicate form and direction of environmental change brought about by wood fuel extraction (e.g. Miller 1985; Smith et al. 1995), it is more likely that patterns of both site catchment wood resource distribution and timber selection for particular usages can be identified (e.g. Shay and Shay 1978; Thompson 1984; van Zeist et al. 1986; Boyd and Kenworthy 1991-1992; Pierce et al. 1998), and thus that some insight into the cultural characteristics of resource selection may be approached. This report provides the results of a study of the woody taxa represented at a prehistoric midden on the north coast of New South Wales (Bell 1997); it will not detail the full excavation results (Collins 1994), but will draw on these where appropriate. The context of the site is one of a prehistoric occupation of a coastline at least during the late Holocene, for which there is ample evidence for extensive and probably relatively dense late Holocene occupation (e.g. Coleman 1980; Hall and Hiscock 1988; Byrne 1989; Collins 1992; Rich 1994). Such population density is largely attributed to the resource richness of this sub-tropical coast, and consequently there has been some debate about the balance between the importance of seasonal movement and sedentary settlement (McBryde 1974, 1982). While an emphasis on a sedentary life style in the region may, in part, be ascribed to an uncritical reading of Ainsworth's (1922) reminiscences of a period some 70 years earlier in his life, it is undoubtedly the case that the coastal region of New South Wales was a particularly rich ecological zone for human settlement. Such ecological richness has largely been expressed in the archaeological analysis of the material contents of middens. The midden is probably the most common type of occupation site in the coastal zone and, being characterised by high concentrations of shellfish remains, provides an analytical basis for studies of natural resource use focusing on shell and fish resource use. However, middens characteristically contain other classes of fossil, including the charcoal which is the focus of attention in this paper

Archaeology · Cape · Charcoal · Geography · Midden · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · History · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub