The Esperance Nyungars, at the Frontier: An archaeological investigation of mobility, aggregation and identity in late- Holocene Aboriginal society, Western Australia
Date
2016
Authors
Mitchell, Myles Bevan
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Abstract
This thesis documents the results of an Aboriginal
community-based archaeological research project in the Esperance
region, southern Western Australia. It is based on analysis of
rock art, stone arrangements and flaked stone artefacts. The aim
is to understand the role of the study sites – Belinup and
Marbaleerup – within patterns of movement that underpinned
society and economy in this region during the late-Holocene. The
research explores concepts of identity (Jones 1997; Meskell and
Preucel 2004) relating to the local Esperance Nyungar people, and
the broader Noongar and Western Desert cultural blocs. It has
been suggested that negotiations over territory, law and identity
during the recent past were directly related to the expansion of
the Western Desert cultural bloc (Gibbs and Veth 2002), which
situates the study area at a dynamic frontier of cultural change.
Exploration of these questions leads to a discussion about the
historical construction of Esperance Nyungar identity.
The study sites are hypothesised to have functioned in the past
as aggregation locales (Conkey 1980). Investigation of this
hypothesis is illuminative; firstly, for understanding more about
the study sites; and secondly about the application of the
aggregation concept, and its limitations for archaeology. The
results inform a discussion of how mobility (Binford 1980; Kelly
1992) and aggregation can be usefully applied together to
investigate the intersections of social and economic elements in
hunter-gatherer settlement.
As a conceptual tool for archaeology, identity is challenging
because it cannot be directly interpreted from material culture
in a simple way. Despite the challenges, identity is an important
tool for understanding past societies. Identity is investigated
here by mapping the occurrence of symbols across landscapes and
considering how these may, or may not, relate to notions of
identity and connections to place. The approach begins with what
is known (contemporary identity and connection), and works
backwards through time and outwards through space towards the
unknown. Identity is a powerful way to link the archaeological
past with the contemporary descendent community.
The process of undertaking a community-based research partnership
is discussed, with critical reflection on the challenges and
successes. An argument is presented for how and why community
input and ownership is critical to the success of archaeological
research into Aboriginal pasts in Australia and abroad.
The results demonstrate the inherent dynamism in Aboriginal
society in southern Western Australia and highlight a historical
legacy to the processes of cultural change underpinning Esperance
Nyungar identity today. Those processes predate the colonial
interruption, and continue into the post-Native Title era. This
leads to a discussion and critique of the Native Title system,
which often neglects to acknowledge the nuanced realities of
Aboriginal societies and the inherent mutability of identity and
connections across time and space. It is argued that the internal
social dynamics of Aboriginal society are an important part of
identity, as people continually negotiate who they are and how
they relate to people and places. This constant process of
identity-making is a fundamental part of Aboriginal culture and
society now and into the distant past.
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Keywords
archaeology, anthropology, Australia, Western Australia, southwest, Noongar, Nyungar, Tjaltjraak, Esperance Nyungars, Native Title, identity, aggregation, mobility, rock art, rock-art, stone arrangements, stone artefacts, stone artifacts, lithics, lithic, community, heritage, decolonised archaeology, decolonized archaeology, Aboriginal archaeology, Indigenous Archaeology, Aboriginal, Indigenous
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Thesis (PhD)
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