The prehistoric geography of northwest Tasmania

Abstract

This study explores the potential of a systematic survey approach to archaeology, emphasising the integration of archaeological and biophysical data. The primary focus of the study is the northwest coast of Tasmania, an island lying between the latitudes of 40S and 44S. The historical development of surveys as a means of collecting archaeological data is reviewed in Chapter 1. Problems of sampling in archaeological surveys are considered, and general principles are outlined in Chapter 4. Criteria for selecting an appropriate sampling scheme were discussed. A range of coast types were sampled by a disproportional stratified sampling scheme. Data collected on middens and other archaeological materials in these quadrats is used to examine the relationship between sites and their biophysical settings in Chapters 5 to 7. A number of relationships between coast type and the number and volume of middens were found. On areas with steep shore profiles no middens were found. The greatest number and largest volume of middens were found on coasts which contained a mixture of rocky headlands and short sandy beaches. On long sandy beaches, the volume of midden was found to decline with distance from the rocky coast, with only small amounts being transported for several kilometres. In contrast to this, on the mixed coast, midden materials were only transported several hundred metres inland. In combination these data are used to describe a linear foraging zone which has implication for foraging models such as site catchment analysis. A model of the landscape association of an ideal location is developed from these survey data. Extrapolation of midden volume per length of coastline is then used to estimate the prehistoric population. This result is compared with ethnographic evidence and an estimate based on the number of hut sites. Middens and artefact sites are found to differ in their landscape associations, and it is proposed that these differences are a function of their being related to different activities.