Archaeobotany of fruit seed processing in a monsoon savanna environment: evidence from the Keep River region,Northern Territory,Australia |
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| Affiliation: | 1. GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong 2522, Australia;2. Department of Prehistory and Historic Archaeology, University of Sydney, 2000, Australia;1. Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia;2. Altai State University, Lenina 61, Barnaul, 565049, Russia;1. Centre for Energy Geoscience, School of Earth Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia;2. UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia;3. School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia;1. Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia;2. Centre for Medical Radiation Physics, School of Physics, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia;1. ICREA - Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Spain;2. ICAC - Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology, Spain;3. Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Archaeology of Social Dynamics (2017SGR 995), Institució Milà i Fontanals (IMF), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain;4. Department of History and Archaeology, Universitat de Barcelona, GRAP (Grup de Recerca en Arqueologia Protohistòrica). PGC2018-099579-B-I00, IAUB (Institut d''Arqueologia de la Universitat de Barcelona), Spain;5. Universitat de Lleida, Spain;6. University of Alicante, Spain |
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| Abstract: | We analyse archaeobotanical remains from three excavated rockshelter sites, Jinmium, Granilpi and Punipunil, in the Keep River region, northwestern Australia. The record is dominated by burnt fragmented seed remains from the fruit trees Persoonia falcata and Buchanania obovata, consistent with ethnographic records of whole fruits being pounded into pastes and cakes at the beginning of the summer wet season. Surface seed samples of non-cultural origin are mostly whole and unburnt, and contain higher proportions of grass seeds. Sustained processing of fruit seeds is first visible in the archaeological record about 3500 years ago. Spatial and temporal variation in its intensity is evident since that time until it declines following European colonisation. The decline does not represent total site abandonment, but a reorientation of activities following the ecological and social changes that came with pastoralism. The former included the local decline of P. falcata with more intense fire regimes. |
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