Kimberley points and colonial preference: new insights into the chronology of pressure flaked point forms from the southeast Kimberley, Western Australia

dc.contributor.authorHarrison, Rodney
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-13T22:44:54Z
dc.date.available2015-12-13T22:44:54Z
dc.date.issued2004
dc.date.updated2015-12-11T10:18:20Z
dc.description.abstractBased on recent archaeological research in the southeast Kimberley this paper argues that while bifacially pressure flaked points are clearly present in the archaeological record from c.1400-1000calBP, Kimberley point manufacture reached its zenith only after AD 1885, when there was both an intensification in the numbers of points produced, and increasing formalisation of point design. Changes in the numbers and formalisation of the shape of points produced after AD1885 are linked both to post-contact social changes and the dialectic role played by non-Aboriginal collectors in selecting for particular point forms. It is suggested that 'Kimberley points' as defined by Akerman and Bindon (1995) should be seen as an extreme formal variation on the range of pressure flaked point shapes that were manufactured over the last millennia in the Kimberley, developed to meet the particular preferences of colonial collectors. This study of formal changes in artefacts as a result of colonial contact in Australia is set within a framework of other research in colonial New Britain and the Admiralty Islands on the influence of collectors on the formal qualities of Indigenous objects.
dc.identifier.issn0003-8121
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/79519
dc.publisherSydney University Press
dc.sourceArchaeology in Oceania
dc.subjectKeywords: Chronology; Collections; Kimberley points; Pressure flaking; Technological change
dc.titleKimberley points and colonial preference: new insights into the chronology of pressure flaked point forms from the southeast Kimberley, Western Australia
dc.typeJournal article
local.bibliographicCitation.issue1
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage11
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage1
local.contributor.affiliationHarrison, Rodney, College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailrepository.admin@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidHarrison, Rodney, u4137889
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.description.refereedYes
local.identifier.absfor210108 - Historical Archaeology (incl. Industrial Archaeology)
local.identifier.ariespublicationMigratedxPub7943
local.identifier.citationvolume39
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-33646240719
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByMigrated
local.type.statusPublished Version

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