Applying geoarchaeological principles to marine archaeology (W.A.)

A new article in the journal Geoarchaeology. 

Applying geoarchaeological principles to marine archaeology: A reappraisal of the 'first marine' and 'in situ' lithic scatters in the Dampier Archipelago, NW Australia

Ingrid Ward, Piers Larcombe, Peter J Ross and Chris Fandry

Geoarchaeology 2022

Abstract

The absence of known prehistoric underwater cultural heritage (UCH) sites on theAustralian inner shelf stands in stark contrast to the thousands of sites revealedelsewhere in the world. Two recent claims—Dortch et al. (D2019) and Benjamin et al.(B2020)—put forward the first in situ (i.e., primary context) UCH sites in the shallowwaters of the Dampier Archipelago, North West Australia, each arguing that thestone artefact scatters are at least 7000 years old and are now submerged becauseof postglacial sea‐level rise. We present new hydrodynamic modelling and data oncoastal erosion and bathymetry, and reassess each site's sedimentary setting andarchaeological site‐formation history. D2019 and B2020 clearly present lithiccultural artefacts, but the arguments for their sites being of primary context andreflecting early Holocene land surfaces are mistaken. Rather, these sites occur in theintertidal zone, and many or all artefacts are likely to have been reworked. Sites ofsecondary context, if treated appropriately, can inform our understanding of site‐formation process and change, and may support more powerful contributions tosubmerged archaeology than attempts to seek the first or the oldest.

The full article is available here . 

The article this paper refers to appears in a blog entry on this site dated July 5, 2020.