Community Archaeology: Working Ancient Aboriginal Wetlands in Eastern Australia
ISBN: 9781789694819
Platform/Publisher: Ebook Central / Archaeopress
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Limited; Download: 7 Days at a Time
Subjects: History;

Community Archaeology presents the results of an investigation of wetland heritage in eastern Australia, with important contributions to the archaeology of the Tasmanian Midlands and the New England Tablelands. In this first substantial project in these bioregions since 1991, OSL and radiocarbon dating at lagoon sites provided dates going back to 8000 BP, significantly extending previous information. In both regions a range of stone artefact scatters were recorded adjacent to lagoons, suggesting associated ceremonial activities. Across the regions, new OSL dates were obtained for lunette formation. These were unexpectedly diverse, with OSL dates not clustered around the Last Glacial Maximum at 20k. With sediment particle sizes suggesting both wind and water deposition, quite individual local lunette depositional histories not closely related to global climates are indicated.

The book also contributes to the important global field of community engagement and education. Unlike most projects where Aboriginal people are involved in commercial archaeology, this project focussed on research. Community Elders were research team partners during fieldwork and training. Work-integrated -learning, at University and on-country locations, proved very successful as a learning approach for young participants.

Wendy Beck is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New England. Her research interests include palaeoethnobotany, place studies in archaeology and teaching and learning in higher education. Wendy has a longstanding interest in transdisciplinary and community-based research.

Catherine Clarke is a past academic staff member and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the University of New England. Her research pursuits included significance assessment in cultural heritage and her PhD thesis focussed on cultural heritage narratives and their role in archaeological education.

Robert Haworth is an Adjunct Academic in Geography and Planning at the University of New England, with interests in environmental history and geomorphology and in research projects piecing together the record of past environments.

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