Archaeology on an arid coast : environmental and cultural influences on subsistence economies on the West Coast of South Australia

Abstract

This thesis examines the archaeological record on the West Coast of the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia with a view to identifying the pattern of behaviour associated with sites present on this coast. The sites are notable in that they are extensive and feature high proportions of stone artefacts but contain little or no shell material. This thesis seeks to explain the virtual absence of shells by considering a number of environmental, behavioural, demographic and cultural issues. Is the archaeological record a product of post-depositional disturbance or resource availability, or did other environmental influences such as a shortage of water restrict adaptive behaviour so as to exclude or minimize interaction with the sea. Alternatively, is the subsistance strategy indicated by the archaeological record a result of other cultural influences. Ethnohistorical evidence is examined to investigate the subsistence patterns which operated on this coastline. Linguistic, technological and social factors which may have influenced the economic choices made by these coastal people are considered and compared with the archaeological record. The thesis then examines the interpretation of the West Coast evidence in the context of other coastal studies both in Australia and overseas to contribute to the current debate regarding the role of the sea in the evolution of hunter-gatherer subsistence economies.