Department of Environment and Geography - Graduate School of the Environment
Western New South Wales Archaeology Program (WNSWAP)
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Graduate
School of the Environment |
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Department
of Anthropology The University of Auckland New Zealand |
WNSWAP is the Western New South Wales Archaeology Program, a multidisciplinary collaboration between researchers at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and Auckland University in New Zealand, working together with indigenous Traditional Owners of country and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service to progress the understanding and management of Indigenous material cultural heritage.
The projects use the latest
electronic survey equipment, GIS, and database software to map, document and
analyse the distribution of Aboriginal stone artefacts and associated heat-retainer
hearths in their landscape context. They are supported by an intensive program
of dating, using the charcoal and hearthstones from heat retainer hearths and
sediments within valley fill sequences, to provide a chronology of landscape
change and Aboriginal settlement.
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Dr
Trish Fanning
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Associate
Professor Simon Holdaway |
WNSWAP projects 1996 - 2007
Predicting the Past:
Time, Landscape and Indigenous Australian History
(ARC Discovery Grant project, Paroo-Darling National Park, 2005-2007)
Conventionally archaeologists discover sites through survey and excavation. Both are problematic in the arid 70% of Australia where many sites lack boundaries and rest on the surface. To solve these problems we re-conceptualise archaeological site surveys by providing an integrated methodology based on archaeology, Quaternary geochronology and geomorphology that emphasises the landscape setting as a means for evaluating when archaeological materials were deposited, how they have been modified through time, and where they have been eroded. The result will be a clear statement of when and where we may expect the archaeological record to be preserved enabling a more detailed account of Indigenous Australian place use history.
Stone artefacts and hearths – people and environment: understanding
the past at Poolamacca
(funded by the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Studies, 2004-2005)
In 2005, archaeologists, geomorphologists and geochronologists from the Western
NSW Archaeology Program (WNSWAP) worked with Traditional Owners to study the
archaeological record of Poolamacca Station in western NSW. We surveyed artefacts
and the remains of heat-retainer hearths on a small section of river terrace
adjacent to Campbells Creek. We also recorded possible lithic sources, and conducted
a pilot study to test a non-destructive method for dating hearths. The goal
was to provide TOs with geoarchaeological information to add to their knowledge
of their country. In the past, waterholes and lithic sources made Campbells
Creek a good place to live, as indicated by the rich archaeological record.
But the environment was not unchanging: differences in the wood burnt in the
hearths from one time period to the next suggests variability in the availability
of particular species, which may be related to climate change. Aboriginal people
appear to have adapted to such changes, however, as a record of occupation going
back at least 6000 years has been established from age determinations on the
hearths. Recent erosion now threatens that record. Overgrazing in the late 19th
century led to stream incision and widening, and sheetwash and rill and gully
erosion continue to threaten the preservation of the archaeological record that
remains. Scientists and Traditional Owners need to continue working together
to learn from that record before it is lost forever.
Geoarchaeological Investigation of Aboriginal Landscape Occupation in Peery
National Park, western NSW
(Macquarie University External Collaborative Grant project with the NSW National
Parks and Wildlife Service, 2002)
This pilot project investigated archaeological material in its landscape context
at three locations in Peery National Park (now part of the Paroo-Darling National
Park) that were being considered for visitor facilities, using WNSWAP survey
and analysis techniques. All three areas were found to contain assemblages different
from those recorded from elsewhere in NSW. Alternative locations for visitor
facilities were recommended.
Peopling of the arid zone revisited: Aboriginal stone artefact scatters
as indicators of occupation intensity in western NSW.
(ARC Large Grant project, Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station, 1999-2001)
Dramatic increases in the density of archaeological materials dated to the last
1500 years are reported for the arid zone of western NSW. We investigated this
record at a regional level by applying a sophisticated sampling design to search
for patterns in the deposition of stone artefacts across six landscape types
(Land Systems) at Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station, 110 km north of Broken
Hill. Through an approach that combined archaeological and geomorphological
studies using new technological solutions based on GIS to record surface scatters
of artefacts, we produced a high quality database to investigate Aboriginal
place use history in the late Holocene. The length of archaeological record
was found to vary across space, depending on the relative landscape stability:
longer records of occupation were found on older, more stable landforms, while
the more dynamic geomorphic environments preserved much shorter records. These
findings have major implications for the use of settlement systems as models
of Aboriginal occupation in Australia, and elsewhere.
Dealing with space: the interface between archaeology and geomorphology
in far western NSW.
(ARC Collaborative Grant project with the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service,
1996-1998)
Surface deposits of stone artefacts are the most common archaeological material
in Australia, yet their study has contributed the least to our understanding
of Aboriginal prehistory. Amongst the myriad of reasons is a lack of understanding
of the interrelationships between geomorphic processes of landscape change and
the preservation, exposure and visibility of the archaeological record of Aboriginal
occupation. In this project we developed methods that overcome this problem.
We used geomorphological and geophysical techniques to establish a chronology
of landscape evolution, and electronic survey technology and GIS to document
and analyse artefact and hearth distributions. The project involved archaeologists,
geomorphologists, and geochronologists working together to integrate a dynamic
view of natural landscape change with an understanding of the spatial distribution
of archaeological materials.
What You Can Do: Postgraduate Research Opportunities
Applications are invited from prospective students to undertake postgraduate research degrees at Masters or PhD level (depending on undergraduate qualification) on WNSWAP projects. Candidates should have completed an undergraduate degree with a high level of achievement (1st class Honours or equivalent) in Archaeology, Geomorphology or Environmental Science. For information on postgraduate research degrees based at Macquarie University, go to the website for the Higher Degree Research Office or send an email to Trish Fanning. For information on research degrees based at Auckland University, send an email to Simon Holdaway.
In Press
Holdaway SJ & Fanning PC. Assemblage Accumulation as a Time Dependent
Process in the Arid Zone of Western New South Wales, Australia. In: Holdaway
SJ and Wandsnider LA (Eds.) Time in Archaeology: Time Perspectivism Twenty
Years Later. University of Utah Press.
Fanning PC, Holdaway SJ & Rhodes EJ. A new geoarchaeology of Aboriginal artefact deposits in western NSW, Australia: establishing spatial and temporal geomorphic controls on the surface archaeological record. Geomorphology.
Fanning PC, Holdaway SJ & Rhodes EJ. A geomorphic framework for understanding the surface archaeological record in arid environments. Geodinimica Acta
Shiner J., Holdaway S.J., Allen H. & Fanning, P.C. Burkes Cave and flaked stone assemblage variability in western New South Wales, Australia. Australian Archaeology.
2006
Holdaway, S., Fanning, P.C. & Shiner, J. Geoarchaeological Investigation
of Aboriginal Landscape Occupation in Paroo-Darling National Park, Western NSW,
Australia. Research in Anthropology and Linguistics-e No. 1, Dept. of Anthropology,
University of Auckland, Auckland. ISBN 0-9582744-0-1. http://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/325
2005
Holdaway SJ, Fanning PC & Shiner J. Absence of evidence or evidence of absence?
Understanding the chronology of indigenous occupation of western New South Wales,
Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 40, 33-49. ISSN 0003-8121
Shiner, J., Holdaway, SJ, Allen, HA & Fanning PC. (2005) Understanding Stone Artefact Assemblage Variability in Late Holocene Contexts in Western New South Wales, Australia: Burkes Cave, Stud Creek and Fowlers Gap. In C. Clarkson and L. Lamb (eds) Lithics Down Under: Australian Perspectives on Lithic Reduction, Use and Classification. British Archaeological Reports, International Monograph Series No. S1408, pp. 67-80. Archaeopress: Oxford. ISBN 1841718513.
2004
Fanning PC & Holdaway SJ. Artifact Visibility at Open Sites in Western New
South Wales, Australia. Journal of Field Archaeology 29, 255—271.
ISSN 0093-4690
Holdaway SJ, Shiner J and Fanning PC. Hunter-gatherers and the archaeology of the long term: An analysis of surface, stone artefact scatters from Sturt National Park, New South Wales, Australia. Asian Perspectives 43(1):34-72. ISSN 0066-8435
2002
Holdaway SJ, Fanning PC, Witter DC, Jones M, Nicholls G, Reeves J & Shiner
J. Variability in the chronology of Late Holocene Aboriginal occupation on the
arid margin of southeastern Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science
29, 351-363. ISSN 0305-4403.
Fanning PC & Holdaway SJ. Using Geospatial Technologies to Understand Prehistoric Human/Landscape Interaction in Arid Australia. Arid Lands Newsletter No. 51, Office of Arid Lands Studies, the University of Arizona, Tuscon, 10 pp.
2001
Fanning PC, Holdaway SJ. Stone artifact scatters in western NSW, Australia:
geomorphic controls on artifact size and distribution. Geoarchaeology, an
International Journal. 16(6), 667-686. ISSN 0883-6353.
Fanning PC & Holdaway SJ. (2001) Temporal limits to the archaeological record in arid western NSW, Australia: lessons from OSL and radiocarbon dating of hearths and sediments. In M. Jones and P. Sheppard (eds), Australasian Connections and New Directions: Proceedings of the 7th Australasian Archaeometry Conference, Research in Anthropology and Linguistics 5, 85-105. ISBN 0-9583686-4-3 ISSN 1174-5967.
2000
Gnaden D & Holdaway SJ. Understanding observer variation when recording
stone artifacts. American Antiquity, 65(4):739-47.
Holdaway SJ, Fanning PC & Witter DC. Prehistoric Aboriginal occupation of the rangelands: interpreting the surface archaeological record of far western New South Wales, Australia. The Rangelands Journal 22, 44-57. ISSN 1036 9872
1999
Fanning PC. Recent landscape history in arid western New South Wales, Australia:
a model for regional change. Geomorphology 29, 191 – 210. ISSN
0169-555X.
1998
Holdaway SJ, Witter D, Fanning PC, Musgrave R, Cochrane G, Doelman T, Greenwood
S, Pigdon D & Reeves J. (1998) New approaches to open site spatial archaeology
in Sturt National Park, New South Wales, Australia. Archaeology in Oceania,
33,1 – 19. ISSN 0003-8121.
1997
Holdaway, S., Fanning, P. & Witter, D. (1997). GIS analysis of artefact
distributions in an eroding landscape: the Western New South Wales Archaeological
Project. In Johnson, I. & North, M. (eds) Archaeological Applications
of GIS: Proceedings of Colloquium II, UISPP XIIIth Congress, Forli, Italy,
September 1996. Sydney University Archaeological Methods Series 5. ISBN 1 86451
327 6
Reports and Other Output
2005
Holdaway SJ, Fanning PC, Rhodes EJ, Broken Hill Local Aboriginal Lands Council.
A Geoarchaeological and Geochronological Assessment of the Surface Archaeology
of the Campbells Creek Area, ‘Poolamacca’ Station, western NSW.
Unpublished report for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Studies and the NSW Department of Environment and Conservation. 124pp.
2004
Shiner, JI. Place as Occupational Histories: Towards an Understanding of
Deflated Surface Artefact Distributions in the West Darling, New South Wales,
Australia. Unpublished PhD thesis, the University of Auckland.
2003
Holdaway SJ & Fanning PC. Time, Period, Place, and Preservation: an Analysis
of Aboriginal Heat Retainer Hearths from Fowlers Gap, western NSW. Unpublished
report to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney. 139pp
Holdaway SJ & Fanning PC. Geoarchaeological Investigation of Aboriginal Landscape Occupation in Peery National Park, western NSW: Results of Radiocarbon Age Determinations on Charcoal from Heat-retainer Hearths. Unpublished supplementary report to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney, 6 pp.
2002
Fanning PC. Beyond the Divide: a New Geoarchaeology of Aboriginal Stone
Artefact Scatters in Western New South Wales, Australia. Unpublished PhD
thesis, Graduate School of the Environment, Macquarie University.
Holdaway SJ, Fanning PC & Shiner J. Geoarchaeological Investigation of Aboriginal Landscape Occupation in Peery National Park, western NSW. Unpublished report to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney.
2001
Fanning PC & Holdaway SJ. The Western NSW Archaeology Program (WNSWAP) at
Fowlers Gap. Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station Annual Report 2001, The
University of New South Wales, Sydney, p.23-25.
2000
Fanning PC & Holdaway SJ (2000) The Western NSW Archaeology Program (WNSWAP)
at Fowlers Gap. Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station Annual Report 2000, The
University of New South Wales, Sydney, p.22-24.
Holdaway SJ, Fanning PC & Witter DC. Report of the Western New South Wales Archaeological Project in Sturt National Park. Unpublished report to NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney, 139 pp.
1999
Fanning PC & Holdaway SJ. The Western NSW Archaeology Program. Fowlers Gap
Arid Zone Research Station Annual Report 1999, The University of New South Wales,
Sydney, p.31-32.
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