Lost in Time but Not in Space: High Resolution Geoarchaeology of Knapping Floors and Artefact Scatters in the Roxby Dunefield, Arid South Australia

Abstract

This thesis examines the prehistoric organisation of stone artefact technology in a gibber plain area of the Roxby dunefield, arid South Australia. Gibber plains are stone covered desert landforms, and the study area gibber provided abundant and knappable quartzite material for stone artefact manufacture. This research involved study of site formation processes and artefact characteristics (including refitting and reduction analysis) from surface knapping floors on the Gibber plain and adjacent dune sites. Comparisons between these sites enabled a review of human resource use and organisation (including procurement, manufacture and transport) within this cultural landscape.

This research trials a new approach and focus for Australian desert archaeology. Previous studies typically assumed that surface sites lack chronological integrity with analyses limited to long-term trends. This study argues that gibber plain knapping floors provide narrow temporal resolution with individual knapping events revealed through careful study of site formation processes and refitting analysis. The study of individual knapping events provides technological insights which in turn provide information about individual variability within the long-term trends of landscape and resource use.

This research identifies complex long-term connections between the gibber plain and sand dune sites involving raw material and artefact transport. This includes evidence for structured processes of human movement across the gibber landscape. Specifically, knapping events were observed between two major dune occupation areas supporting embedded procurement along regular pathways. There is no evidence of raw material conservation and/or of a standardised, preferred artefact form suggesting variability in knapping strategy was predominantly the result of human agency/ creativity.

High-resolution surface archaeological research provides significant information about poorly understood arid zone South Australia while also exploring an issue of global interest, the potential of knapping floors for understanding past human activity. Surface artefact scatters are by far the most common site-type within an Australian context yet these sites (and the patterns contained within) remain poorly researched. This thesis argues that surface scatters embody habitual practices of past people and may provide some of the most important information about human movements and agency. Show more