Late Holocene Changes in Shellfishing Behaviors From the Gulf of Carpentaria,Northern Australia

ABSTRACT

Dramatic changes in shellfishing behaviors occur across northern Australia during the late Holocene, marked most conspicuously by the cessation of large shell mound construction in some areas, and the reorganization of shellfishing behaviors towards more intensive production in the last 1,000 years. Excavations reveal rapid and widespread changes within coastal sites, an increasing diversification in overall subsistence resources, and patterns of increase in site establishment and use. Some of these changes have been argued to be associated with increasing climate variability and a trend towards increasing aridity during the late Holocene, thought to have transformed coastal ecosystems and mollusc availability. However, when these hypotheses are tested at the local level, more nuanced patterns of human-environment interaction emerge, which call into question interpretations based on broad-scale climate records. We suggest that disjunctions in the timing of the cessation of shell mound construction noted between the west and east Gulf of Carpentaria may be related, at least in part, to the timing and intensity of external cultural contacts with Macassan seafarers, associated with reorganization of mobility and production strategies, rather than as yet undemonstrated environmental changes impacting on shellfish availability.     

Defining the Early Bronze Age landscape: a remote sensing‐based analysis of Hafit tomb distribution in Wadi Andam,Sultanate of Oman

High‐resolution, freely available Google Earth software was successfully utilised in a remote‐sensing survey to locate and map thousands of Hafit tombs in a study area centring on Wadi Andam in the Sultanate of Oman. This dataset was refined for reliability with ground‐based fieldwork, and was analysed in the landscape using GIS software. The tombs are not randomly distributed across the study area; rather, the hydrology of the area appears to have been a dominant determining factor in the location of the graves. The structures were constructed in elevated, highly visible locations, possibly in an attempt to mark ownership of the landscape. The distribution of Hafit tombs is likely to provide some insight into the utilisation of the landscape in this period, with the evidence from Wadi Andam tentatively suggesting the presence of a nomadic pastoralist population. The development of this rapid, accurate and cost‐effective methodology has the potential to greatly facilitate the survey and analysis of Hafit tombs across the Oman peninsula.     

Obituaries

Abstract

A rich variety of processes have modified the glacial landscape of the Scottish Highlands since the last glaciers disappeared 11,500 years ago. Many of these processes can be described as paraglacial (glacially-conditioned): retreat of glacier ice has resulted in exposure of metastable sediment sources (rock slopes, drift-mantled slopes and valley-floor glacigenic deposits) that have been reworked over a range of timescales. Much of the reworked sediment has been deposited in paraglacial sediment stores (talus accumulations, debris cones, alluvial fans, valley fills, river terraces and deltas). The trajectory of paraglacial sediment transfer can be approximated by an exhaustion model. A corollary of this model is that all sediment stores eventually undergo a change from net accumulation to net erosion, reflecting the non-renewable nature of sediment sources. This concept helps to explain why most talus accumulations, debris cones and alluvial fans in the Highlands are now relict, and why many floodplains appear to have experienced an initial period of aggradation followed by later river incision and terrace development. Since deglaciation, rock slopes have experienced paraglacial stress release due to differential deglacial unloading. Many rock slopes have remained stable or experienced gradual adjustment through intermittent rockfall. At over 600 sites, however, large-scale rock-slope failure has occurred, either in the form of catastrophic failure with complete or arrested debris runout, or as major slope deformations. Modification of drift-mantled slopes has been dominated by rainstorm-generated debris flows activity, which have stripped sediment from slopes and redeposited it in debris cones. Radiocarbon dating of buried organic horizons shows that debris flows have occurred intermittently throughout the Holocene. Snow avalanches have played only a localized role in paraglacial sediment transfer. The Holocene alluvial history of the Highlands is poorly understood. Some alluvial fans formed during a few exceptional flood events, and there is evidence that postglacial floodplain aggradation peaked in the late Holocene and was succeeded by floodplain incision and terrace development, possibly reflecting upstream reduction in paraglacial sediment supply. Other processes have operated independently of glacial conditioning. The effects of wind action are dominant in the coastal zone, forming dunefields through aeolian reworking of beach sand, and on plateaux in the form of deflation surfaces and sand sheets. Extensive erosion of plateau-top sands and aeolisols occurred in the period AD 1550–1700, a period of exceptional storminess. Small-scale periglacial processes have also been active on high ground throughout the Holocene, including granular weathering of exposed rock surfaces, the development of small-scale frost-sorted patterned ground on unvegetated terrain, and slow downslope movement of solifluction sheets, solifluction lobes and ploughing boulders.     

Original DocumentsAncient Ordinances of the Gild Merchant of the Town of Southampton

Excavations at Meadowsfoot Beach, Mothecombe, south Devon, between 2004 and 2011 focused on two main areas. In the first, evidence for occupation in a sand dune included successive hearths and imported early medieval finds. In the second, three phases of early medieval structures were uncovered, along with more imported finds including amphora sherds. At least one of the structures was very large, and is presently unique in Devon. The landscape context of the site is considered along with the impact of sea-level change and coastal erosion. The paper concludes with a discussion of the site and its relationship to post-Roman networks of trade and communications with late Antique Atlantic Europe and the Mediterranean. We argue that Mothecombe helps us towards a better understanding of these networks by furnishing new insights on their social foundations in western Britain.     

Early Maritime Desert Dwellers in Namaqualand,South Africa: A Holocene Perspective on Pleistocene Peopling

ABSTRACT

South Africa's northern Namaqualand coastal desert is the southern extension of the Namib. Today, this region is semi-desert with patchy subsistence resources and scarce, unpredictable rainfall. Yet this ancient desert landscape possesses residues of human activity stretching back into the Middle Pleistocene, evidenced by heavily weathered surface finds, including handaxes and Victoria West cores. Such old finds in so harsh an environment raise important questions: how do human movements into this area relate to local palaeoenvironmental changes, and how has this relationship changed through time? While no dated Middle Pleistocene sites presently exist to reconstruct the earliest hominin dispersals, several late Pleistocene sites now have chronostratigraphic sequences that can be brought to bear on these questions. This article presents chronological and subsistence-settlement data for one such site, Spitzkloof A Rockshelter in northern Namaqualand's rugged Richtersveld. Humans are shown to have visited the site very sporadically between ～50,000 and 17,000 cal BP. Unlike most of the subcontinent, the most intensive occupations occur during early Marine Isotope Stage 2, when multiple proxies suggest enhanced humidity associated with intensified winter rainfall. We examine these data using the region's better-developed Holocene archaeological record to create predictions about the earliest coastal desert dwellers.     

The possible role of humans in the early stages of machair evolution: palaeoenvironmental investigations in the Outer Hebrides,Scotland

Low altitude sandy plains (machair) are a distinctive feature of the Atlantic coasts of the Scottish Outer Hebrides. They formed as a result of shoreward movement of sediment consequent upon a rise in Holocene sea levels. During the long period over which machair has been forming, the earliest date proposed for their human occupation is the Neolithic. The natural origins of the machair are not disputed, but examination of deposits at sites in the islands of Benbecula and Grimsay encourages us to advance a possible anthropogenic role in the process of machair development, and also to suggest that human involvement may date from the Mesolithic period (pre-5000 BP [ca. 5730 cal BP]), a time for which archaeological evidence is lacking from the Outer Hebrides. The presence of charcoal might suggest that burning of the vegetation cover of the machair was an additional factor to the supposedly dominant marine and aeolian processes in sand mobility. Removal of shrub vegetation may also have left sand surfaces open to deflation. There remains a difficulty in separating natural from human causes in investigations of long-term coastal evolution.     

Focused,intense and long-term: evidence for granular ark (Anadara granosa) exploitation from late Holocene shell mounds of Blue Mud Bay,northern Australia

Explanatory frameworks relating to the appearance of shell mounds and the exploitation of molluscs (particularly the sand/mudflat bivalve Anadara granosa) during the late Holocene have tended to emphasise stasis and continuity. Very few analyses have adequately investigated the intensity of human predation during the mound period and the potential effects on the particular prey species. To this end, the biological and ecological characteristics of A. granosa, the dominant molluscan species for much of the known period of occupation in the region, are considered in detail, in combination with assessing the potential for human impact through predation via the measurement of 9106 A. granosa valves from three shell mounds. In explaining long-term economic change in this region of northern Australia, the focus has been placed on the analysis of relative changes and trends through time in prehistoric resource exploitation.     

Al-Ghoryeen: An Early Bronze Age settlement in central Oman peninsula

Al-Ghoryeen, located 95 km southwest of Muscat, is a unique settlement dating to the Umm an-Nar period and is built upon a Late Hafit period settlement. It was found in 2004 and excavation began in 2018. Preliminary analysis of the results revealed two major occupation phases with an occupational gap in between. A change occurred between the earlier and later phases of the settlement system reflected mainly in the difference in building sizes and plan. We excavated either partially or completely a stone round tower and more than 10 domestic structures. The distribution of the architectural features including the round tower, domestic structures and burials showed some kind of organised settlement structure. The Hafit period settlement was tested in two trenches where ¹⁴C analysis dated the earliest occupation to the late Hafit period.     

Formation of beach‐ridge plains: an appreciation of the contribution by Jack L. Davies

A robust debate among coastal geomorphologists as to the processes by which beach‐ridge plains around Australia have formed was initiated by a former President of the Institute of Australian Geographers. This review gives special consideration to the work of Jack L. Davies, whose academic contributions to coastal geomorphology in Australia have not always been appropriately acknowledged when explaining how similar plains have evolved elsewhere in the world. Davies recognised that relatively steep storm waves caused erosion (cut) on beaches, whereas less steep long‐period swell waves returned sand (fill). He considered the beach berm to be the nucleus on which a beach ridge formed, which could subsequently develop into a foredune, in contrast to cobble ridges that were deposited during storms. Offshore conditions regulate supply of sand to the shoreline, partly through effects on wave refraction, with higher rates of supply where the nearshore is shallow. It was apparent to Davies that the elevation of successive ridges might, but not necessarily, provide evidence of past changes of sea level, despite adornment by variable amounts of windblown dune sand. Morphodynamic understanding of long‐term coastal evolution, based on radiocarbon dating chronologies, has demonstrated that Australian coastal plains formed over the past ~6,000 years when sea level has been close to its present level, in contrast to several documented locations in the northern hemisphere where the sea has been rising for the past few millennia. Particularly insightful were observations by Davies that ridge formation could be influenced by a range of factors including changes in sea level, storminess, or sediment supply. These factors acting singly or in combination seem likely to change in the future. Understanding such responses remains a high priority and can be addressed by new technologies, such as light detection and ranging, optically stimulated luminescence dating, ground‐penetrating radar, and computer simulation.     

Seasonal Patterns of Coastal Exploitation on the Farasan Islands,Saudi Arabia

Here we present the results of the analysis of coastal exploitation patterns in the southern Red Sea during the Middle Holocene. We focus on the shell midden cluster of the Farasan Islands, Saudi Arabia, which comprises over 3,000 shell midden sites. These sites date from 6,500 to 4,500 cal BP and are part of an arid landscape. We focus on one site, JW1727, which provides a snapshot of marine exploitation and will help to understand the use of food resources within the region. Stable isotope values (δ¹⁸O) were collected from the marine gastropod Conomurex fasciatus (Born 1778), which represents 72% of shell weight of JW1727, in order to reconstruct the season of capture. Results demonstrate that 1) every season is represented within the dataset; and 2) there is increased C. fasciatus deposition during the summer and autumn months. This indicates a diet consisting of C. fasciatus throughout the year in combination with other food sources and an increase of the C. fasciatus component during the arid seasons, possibly linked to the unavailability of vegetation. Additionally, size measurements of C. fasciatus were carried out to examine changes in size distribution throughout the occupation of the site that could be related to overexploitation of C. fasciatus. However, no significant trends could be observed. In sum, the results suggest a sustainable and constant habitation of the Farasan Islands despite the highly arid conditions.     

Late Holocene vegetation and palaeoenvironmental history of the Dunadd area,Argyll, Scotland: chronology of events

This paper focuses on the chronology and environmental significance of a sediment sequence from an alluvial locality in the vicinity of the historic site of Dunadd, Scotland. It outlines the rationale and statistical validity of an age model derived for a sequence of floodplain sediments from which detailed pollen-stratigraphical and plant macrofossil records have been derived. A series of radiocarbon dates are calibrated using a Bayesian modelling approach, the results of which can be refined by incorporating two independent age estimates based on tephra layers of known age. Analysis of the entire floodplain sequence for volcanic glass shards revealed the presence of discrete but geochemically very similar tephra layers within the upper (late Holocene) part of the sequence. Comparison with published geochemical data obtained from Icelandic tephras of historical age indicates strong statistical correlations with the Hekla 1947 AD and Hekla 1510 AD. While the Hekla 1510 AD tephra has previously been reported from sites within Britain and Ireland, the Dunadd sequence affords the first record of the Hekla 1947 AD tephra layer within Scotland. When the ages and stratigraphic positions of both tephra layers are incorporated into the Bayesian age model, an overall centennial to decadal precision for the late Holocene is achieved, with archaeological and environmental transitions discriminated with highest-likelihood age uncertainty ranges of 20–50 years at 95% confidence. The local environmental record is assessed in the light of this new chronological framework: the data support previously reported proposals for two periods of significant climatic deterioration with increased wetness, the first during the early Medieval period and the second during the late 16th and 17th centuries AD.     

Stability in the South Pacific surface marine C reservoir over the last 750 years. Evidence from American Samoa, the southern Cook Islands and the Marquesas

Although minor climatic and sea-level changes have been documented for the South Pacific during the late Holocene, our understanding of the consequent impact of these changes on the marine ¹⁴C reservoir, and therefore the ¹⁴C content of shellfish, is limited. Ultimately, this has implications for documenting the chronology of human movement and adaptation in this region. In this paper we compare marine reservoir (ΔR) data obtained from tightly controlled archaeological proveniences with known-age, pre-AD 1950 shells from the southern Cook Islands, American Samoa, and Marquesas Islands. Results indicate that there has been no significant change in the near-shore marine reservoir in these three locations over the last ca. 750 years. Furthermore, known-age, pre-AD 1950 shell samples provide more precise ΔR values for use in sample calibration than archaeological paired shell/charcoal samples. This is attributed in part to the limitations of assigning provenance and age to material from archaeological sites. On the basis of these results we conclude that the known-age, pre-AD 1950 shell derived ΔR values can be used to calibrate shell ¹⁴C results from deposits of late Holocene age.     

Changes in shell gathering in an early agricultural society at the head of Ise Bay,Japan

We examined changes in shell gathering in an early agricultural society at the head of Ise Bay, Japan based on the analysis of almost 20,000 individual shell remains from four coastal settlements. We analyzed historical changes in the composition and size range of the shell species Meretrix lusoria. The most common species went from Crassostrea gigas in the early Middle Yayoi period (about 400–350BC) to M. lusoria in the mid-Middle Yayoi period (about 320–200BC). It is possible that the seacoast tideland, an environment suitable for C. gigas, was buried in sediment from the rivers and thereby transformed into muddy sand bottoms, an environment more suitable for M. lusoria. We also analyzed historical changes in the size range of M. lusoria. The mean size of M. lusoria increased significantly from the early Final Jomon (about 1250–1000BC) to the late Early Yayoi (about 500–400BC), from the late Early Yayoi to the early Middle Yayoi, and from the early to the mid-Middle Yayoi periods. Evidence suggests that during the Yayoi period, the demand for shells decreased and therefore, the pressure to collect M. lusoria also decreased. We concluded that the larger specimens of M. lusoria were collected selectively.     

Excavations at Huaca Herederos Chica,Moche Valley,Peru

Abstract

Detailed results of excavations from 1970 to 1973 at the site of Huaca Herederos Chica in the lower Moche Valley, Peru are presented. This now partially destroyed monumental site belongs to the Caballo Muerto Complex, a series of mound sites that span both the Initial Period (2100–1200 CAL B.C.) and the Early Horizon (1200–200 CAL B.C.). The existing mounds were constructed sequentially over a period of some 1000 years; some mounds, like Huaca Herederos Chica, are the result of the superposition of several phases of occupation and building over that long time period, each separated by phases of abandonment. The older remains, dating from the Initial Period, testify to the presence in this coastal region of Peru of architectural features such as small quadrilateral rooms with rounded corners and somewhat circular rooms reminiscent of similar features of the Kotosh Religious Tradition at the highland sites of La Galgada and Huaricoto as well as in the coastal Casma Valley. Huaca Herederos Chica was abandoned from 1200–400 CAL B.C. only to be reoccupied and rebuilt in the late Early Horizon (400–200 CAL B.C.). Architectural changes seen at the site and at the Caballo Muerto Complex as a whole probably reflect important social and political changes along much of the Peruvian north coast.     

A first note on the excavations at UAQ38, a new Neolithic site in the Emirate of Umm al-Quwain

At the end of 2018, the first season of excavation was carried out at the shell midden site of UAQ38. The site occupies the top of a sand dune not far from UAQ36 and UAQ2, two other recently investigated Neolithic shell middens. Several well-stratified anthropogenic levels were excavated at UAQ38, which can be dated mainly to the 5th millennium BC, although the recorded artefacts suggest a possible older date for the lowest levels. Food waste, post-holes, fireplaces, and burnt shell dumpings attest to human activities that took place at the site over a rather long period of time. Here the stratigraphic sequence will be presented, together with a first overview of the artefactual assemblage. The collected data will be concisely discussed in order to fit the site within the typology of Neolithic settlements that can be proposed for the area. UAQ38 is so far the only Neolithic site along the northeastern coast of the UAE for which stratified charcoal is available for dating.     

What is past is prologue: excavations at the Econfina Channel site,Apalachee Bay,Florida, USA

Offshore submerged sites can retain valuable data concerning many questions of interest to archaeology, including what form coastal occupations may have taken during periods before the establishment of modern coastlines and late Holocene climate and ecological conditions. However, submerged offshore sites experience postdepositional forces entirely unlike those in terrestrial contexts, including erosion/deflation of sediments, and degradation of artifacts and/or features caused by the marine environment. Methodological and theoretical approaches to assessing submerged marine sites, versus terrestrial ones, must be adjusted accordingly to extract valuable data and interpretations from them. This study demonstrates the application of these different approaches at the Econfina Channel site (8TA139) in Apalachee Bay, Florida, USA. The site appears to contain significant evidence for coastally adapted occupation during the final part of the Middle Archaic period (～8600–5000?cal?BP), but we needed to address marine site formation processes before we could assess human activities at the site. Sedimentological and archaeological traces of human activities can be teased out using geoarchaeological methods, which differentiate between nonhuman postdepositional processes and the cultural material remains left behind by those who used the site before it was abandoned and subsequently submerged.     

The Bronze Age landscape of the Bjäre peninsula,southern Sweden,and its relationship to burial mounds

Palaeoecological analyses from a small fen deposit, combined with pollen analysis from buried soil profiles under prehistoric burial mounds, have been used to investigate the timing and vegetation change associated with the Holocene development of a cultural landscape in southern Sweden. Traditional pollen analysis is complemented with plant macrofossil analysis and soil pollen analysis from within and in close proximity to the burial mounds in the coastal Bjäre peninsula, well known for its high density of well-preserved Bronze Age monuments. The vegetation development is linked to the construction of the burial mounds. A marked increase of cultural impact on the landscape is recorded during the Neolithic–Bronze Age transition and estimates of landscape openness suggest that by the onset of the Bronze Age, forest cover was only 20–40%, falling to 10% in the immediate vicinity of the burial mounds themselves. The coastal strip appears to have been affected by human activity to a greater extent and at an earlier date than sites from further inland in southern Sweden and the Bronze Age burial mounds were most likely designed to be visible in a largely deforested landscape.     

The PalaeoEnvironments and ARchaeological Landscapes (PEARL) project: Recent findings from Neolithic sites in Northern Oman

The PalaeoEnvironments and ARchaeological Landscapes (PEARL) research project is a joint German–British project with the principal objective of developing a framework of past human occupation and landscape change in south-eastern Arabia. Fieldwork during 2018 and 2019 involved the systematic survey and excavation of sites in the Rustaq and Ibri regions of Northern Oman, with the aim of establishing the nature and timing of human occupation and landscape change during the Early Holocene period (c. 10,000–7,000 years BP). Further to the findings previously reported, results from recent excavations of the site Hayy al-Sarh in Rustaq revealed the presence of animal remains, stone and shell beads and stone structures, indicating a large Neolithic settlement with burial areas. In addition, preliminary excavations at a rock shelter site near Ibri have revealed stratified archaeological remains, including a Fasad-type assemblage. Future fieldwork will further develop archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records to help build a framework for studying cultural and natural developments in Northern Oman.     

Holocene Relative Sea-Level Change on the Isle of Skye,Inner Hebrides,Scotland

Holocene relative sea-level (RSL) changes are described for the Isle of Skye, based upon evidence from isolation basins and back barrier environments. RSL rose across low-lying coastal areas in the early Holocene, inundating isolation basins in the Sleat peninsula, and then fell back in the early-middle Holocene before a fluctuating rise occurred later in the middle and late Holocene. A short-lived marine inundation at one site may have been caused by an episode of rapid RSL rise after the discharge of Lakes Agassiz–Ojibway in North America and/or the Holocene Storegga Slide tsunami, generated by submarine landsliding off South-West Norway. The empirical evidence for RSL change on Skye is compared with a recent shoreline-based glacio-isostatic adjustment model, which includes Skye, showing altitudes for the Holocene Storegga Slide tsunami, Main Postglacial, Blairdrummond and Wigtown shorelines in the area. The empirical evidence is shown to be in accord with the altitudes predicted by the model.     

Identifying palaeo-environments and changes in Aboriginal subsistence from dual-patterned faunal assemblages,south-western Australia

Palaeo-environments and past human subsistence patterns are difficult to determine from dual-patterned faunal assemblages where human and non-human predators have accumulated and intensively modified animal bones. This paper examines such records in the Leeuwin–Naturaliste Region of south-western Australia, where a thin belt of coastal limestone contains caves and rock shelters with rich faunal deposits. The Late Pleistocene and Holocene part of this record derives from four archaeological sites: Devil's Lair, Tunnel Cave, Witchcliffe Rock Shelter and Rainbow Cave. Correspondence analysis combined with cluster analysis enables a preliminary assessment of habitat changes using simple species abundances in the faunal assemblages and comparison with indices of past human activity in the sites and the species’ present habitat preferences. These inferred changes, consistent with previous analyses of faunal remains and tree charcoal, suggest that late Holocene sites document Aboriginal occupation in coastal heath, scrub and woodland. Late Pleistocene deposits record hinterland occupation at times of low sea-level when the coast was up to 30 km seawards of its present position and the surrounding vegetation was open-forest or woodland. As rainfall increased and vegetation changed in the Holocene, species foraging in open-woodland declined or became locally extinct, while species requiring closed canopy habitats increased. Rank-order correlations of taxa and archaeological remains from depositional sequences before and after the environmental change indicate that the occupiers of late Holocene sites favoured the same generalist species that occupiers of Late Pleistocene sites had favoured, which were available at all times. Prey habitats, foraging behaviours and historic records of ethnographic hunting and settlement pattern suggest that this local continuity is consistent with maintenance of a “dispersive mode” subsistence pattern in the region.