A preliminary report on the stone artefacts from Colless Creek Cave, northwest Queensland

Today the gorge system of which Colless Creek is a part is an oasis, a permanent stream system lined by tropical gallery forest running through semi-arid terrain. Colless Creek Cave itself is currently an oasis of information within the archaeological literary desert of the Top End; no other sites have been published within a 500km radius. This paper is a preliminary report on the analysis of stone artefacts from the cave. It is preliminary in two senses. First, it analyses material from only two test squares excavated in 1979. Second, it describes only artefact densities, rates of discard, artefact sizes, and the proportions of artefact types. No analysis of stone working technology is presented. This paper is concerned only with chronological changes within the cave; no account is taken of spatial variations within the cave, or of relationships to other sites

Archaeology · Arid · Cartography · Cave · Desert (philosophy · Geography · Projectile point · Terrain · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Maritime and Coastal Archaeology · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology · Paleontology

• Rethinking boundaries

  Open Access•Daryl Wesley, Emilie Dotte-Sarout et al.•Australian Archaeology•2026

  Incluir item

• Pleistocene Settlement of Deserts from an Australian Perspective

  Peter Hiscock, Lynley Wallis et al.•Desert Peoples•2005

  Incluir item

• Index of Dates from Archaeological Sites in Queensland

  Sean Ulm, Jill Reid•Queensland Archaeological Research•2000

  Incluir item

• An excavation of a midden complex at the Toulkerrie Oystermens Lease, Moreton Island, S.E. Queensland

  Open Access•Jay Hall, G Bowen et al.•Queensland Archaeological Research•1989

  Incluir item

• A technical analysis of stone artefacts from Yam Camp surface scatter and rockshelter, S.E. Cape York Peninsula

  Open Access•Warwick Pearson•Queensland Archaeological Research•1989

  Incluir item

• An archaeological survey of the Cooloola Region, S.E. Queensland

  Open Access•I J Mcniven, Ian Mcniven•Queensland Archaeological Research•1985

  Incluir item

• Pleistocene Australia

  Harry Lourandos•Pleistocene Old World•1987

  Incluir item

• Implications for culture contact history from a glass artefact on a Diingwulung earth mound in Weipa

  Open Access•Billy Ó Foghlú, Daryl Wesley et al.•Queensland Archaeological Research•2016

  Incluir item

• Martujarra Prehistory

  P Veth•Australian Archaeology•1987

  Incluir item

• Habitation and land use patterns in the Upper Mangrove Creek catchment, New South Wales central coast, Australia

  Val Attenbrow•Australian Archaeology•2003

  Incluir item

• Australian Archaeologists In The Pacific, 1974-1994

  Ian Lilley•Australian Archaeology•1994

  Incluir item

• Gledswood Shelter 1

  Lynley Wallis, Ben Keys et al.•Australian Archaeology•2009

  Incluir item

• Koongine Cave Excavations 1986-7

  David Frankel•Australian Archaeology•1989

  Incluir item

• Garden Range 2

  Open Access•I J Mcniven, Jeremy Ash et al.•Australian Archaeology•2024

  Incluir item

• The Protection and Preservation of Archaeological Collections

  Richard Robins, Richard J Robins•Australian Archaeology•1988

  Incluir item

• Investigating changing stone technologies, site use and occupational intensities at Fern Cave, north Queensland

  Lara Lamb•Australian Archaeology•1996

  Incluir item

• When East Is Northwest

  Kevin Tibbett•Australian Archaeology•2006

  Incluir item

• Exploratory Excavation at Bushrangers Cave (Site LA

  Jay Hall•Australian Archaeology•1986

  Incluir item

• Hunter-gatherer cultural dynamics

  Open Access•Harry Lourandos•Journal of Archaeological Research•1993

  Incluir item

• Excavations at Koongine Cave

  Open Access•C F M Bird, David Frankel•Proceedings of the Prehistoric…•2001

  Incluir item

• Teewah Beach

  lan McNiven•Australian Archaeology•1991

  Incluir item

• The archaeology of Maliwawa

  Daryl Wesley, Mirani Litster et al.•Australian Archaeology•2018

  Incluir item

• Core Concept

  Open Access•Simon Wyatt-Spratt•Lithic Technology•2025

  Incluir item

• The case for a resident human population in the Central Australian Ranges during full glacial aridity

  Open Access•M A Smith, Mike Smith•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1989

  Incluir item

• A cache of tulas from the Boulia district, western Queensland

  Open Access•Peter Hiscock•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1988

  Incluir item

• Darumbal voyaging

  Open Access•I J Mcniven, Nicole De Maria et al.•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•2014

  Incluir item

• Grand hypotheses

  Open Access•C E Dortch, Moya Smith et al.•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•2001

  Incluir item

• Islands in the interior

  Open Access•P Veth•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1989

  Incluir item

• Fern Cave, rock art and social formations

  Open Access•Bruno David•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1991

  Incluir item

• Palaeo-ecology and Pleistocene human occupation in south central Tasmania

  Open Access•Richard Cosgrove, Jim Allen et al.•Antiquity•1990

  Incluir item

• Themes in the prehistory of tropical Australia

  Open Access•M J Morwood, D R Hobbs•Antiquity•1995

  Incluir item

• Technological change at Platypus Rockshelter (KB)

  Open Access•Peter Hiscock, Jay Hall•Queensland Archaeological Research•1988

  Incluir item

• The need for a taphonomic perspective in stone artefact analysis

  Open Access•Peter Hiscock•Queensland Archaeological Research•1985

  Incluir item

• A preliminary report on the stone artefacts from Colless Creek Cave, northwest Queensland

  Open Access•Peter Hiscock•Queensland Archaeological Research•1984

  Incluir item

• Excavation of Green Ant and Echidna Shelters, Cape York Peninsula

  Open Access•J Flood, Nicky Horsfall•Queensland Archaeological Research•1986

  Incluir item

• A brief history of archaeological work in northwest Queensland

  Open Access•Peter Hiscock, P J Hughes et al.•Queensland Archaeological Research•1984

  Incluir item

• Prickly Bush, a site with backed blades on the Brisbane River

  Open Access•Jay Hall, W R F Love•Queensland Archaeological Research•1985

  Incluir item

• Hope Island

  Open Access•Ian Walters, Peter Lauer et al.•Queensland Archaeological Research•1987

  Incluir item

• Excavation at the new Brisbane Airport site (LB)

  Open Access•Jay Hall, Ian Lilley•Queensland Archaeological Research•1987

  Incluir item

• Lithic occurences and stratigraphic problems at Turtle Rock (Hervey Range), North Queensland

  Open Access•Mireille Mardaga-Campbell•Queensland Archaeological Research•1985

  Incluir item

• The prehistory of Aboriginal landuse on the upper Flinders River, North Queensland Highlands

  Open Access•M J Morwood•Queensland Archaeological Research•1990

  Incluir item

• Brooyar Rockshelter

  Open Access•I J Mcniven, Ian Mcniven•Queensland Archaeological Research•1988

  Incluir item

• Sandblow sites in the Great Sandy Region, coastal southeast Queensland

  Open Access•I J Mcniven, Ian Mcniven•Queensland Archaeological Research•1992

  Incluir item

• Taphonomy and Paleoecology

  Open Access•Diane P Gifford•Advances in archaeological method…•1981

  Incluir item

• Thermal Alteration of Silica Minerals

  Open Access•Barbara A Purdy, H K Brooks•Science•1971

  Incluir item

• A Pleistocene Date from an Occupation Deposit in the Pilbara Region, Western Australia

  Lesley Maynard•Australian Archaeology•1980

  Incluir item

• Pleistocene Occupation of the Arid Zone in Southeast Australia

  P J Hughes, Philip Hughes et al.•Australian Archaeology•1980

  Incluir item

• Les premières fouilles à Dampier (Australie occidentale) et leur place dans l'ensemble australien

  Michel Lorblanchet, Rhys Jones•Bulletin de la Société…•1979

  Incluir item

• Thermally Altered Novaculite and Stone Tool Manufacturing Techniques

  J Jeffrey Flenniken, Ervan G Garrison•Journal of Field Archaeology•1975

  Incluir item

• Archaeological and Geomorphological Investigations on Mt. Moffatt Station, Queensland, Australia

  Open Access•D J Mulvaney, E B JOYCE•Proceedings of the Prehistoric…•1965

  Incluir item

• Plains Anthropologist Journal Of the Plains Conference

  Margaret D Mandeville•Plains Anthropologist•1973

  Incluir item

• A Comparison of the Flaking Qualities of Nehawka Chert

  Margaret D Mandeville, J Jeffrey Flenniken•Plains Anthropologist•1974

  Incluir item

• Resistance and Compromise

  Open Access•Gerald Bowler•Journal of History•1983

  Incluir item

• Devon Downs Reconsidered

  Open Access•M A Smith, Mike Smith•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1982

  Incluir item

• A 38,000‐year‐old archaeological site at Upper Swan, Western Australia

  Open Access•R H Pearce, Mike Barbetti•Archaeology in Oceania/Archæology…•1981

  Incluir item

• A preliminary report on the stone artefacts from Colless Creek Cave, northwest Queensland

  Open Access•Peter Hiscock•Queensland Archaeological Research•1984

  Incluir item

• Archaeological Context and Systemic Context

  Open Access•Michael Brian Schiffer•American Antiquity•1972

  Incluir item

• The Fifth Continent

  R Jones•Annual Review of Anthropology•1979

  Incluir item