The Story is in the Rocks: How Stone Artifact Scatters can Inform our Understanding of Ancient Aboriginal Stone Arrangement Functions

ABSTRACT

The Aboriginal stone arrangements of Australia’s northwest Pilbara region are cultural features of considerable interest to Australian scholars. Despite decades of investigation, the function and purpose of the stone constructions remain largely enigmatic. In the absence of physical evidence, most researchers contend that stone arrangements served a ceremonial and ritualistic function. This viewpoint is based largely on ethnographic literature from elsewhere in Australia; however, we suggest that the pan-Australian applicability of ethnographic observations is inappropriate without supporting archaeological evidence. In this article, we characterize stone artifact scatters associated with stone arrangement sites near the Gurdadaguji Valley, in the east Hamersley Range of Western Australia, and argue that assemblage attributes can provide insight on the different kinds of activities that occurred in proximity to particular stone arrangement designs. We use this evidence-based information in conjunction with local ethnography to suggest that some types of stone arrangements functioned as symbolic cultural monuments rather than as places where ceremonial or ritualistic activities occurred.

KEYWORDS:

• Australian archaeology
• Aboriginal
• Pilbara
• stone arrangements
• stone artifact scatters
• prehistoric monuments

Acknowledgements

It is with great respect and appreciation that the authors recognize the Banjima Native Title Claimants as the Traditional Owners of the land and heritage sites this study encompasses. The authors also wish to acknowledge the support of the Martidja Banyjima and Banjima peoples that worked alongside us during fieldwork. This study was completed with the assistance of BHP Billiton Iron Ore (BHPBIO) Pty Ltd, and in particular, the authors thank Dr. Jade Pervan, Daniel Bruckner, Paul Berry, Annunziata Strano, Ross Stanger, Simon Trinder, and Roger Gregory for facilitating access to spatial data and site reports. Additional BHP field assistance was provided by Allan Ewen, Paul Taylor, Zaine Hollister, and Peter Sweeny. In addition to WBL and MJS, the Scarp Archaeology Pty. Ltd. team directly involved with stone arrangement recording and artifact analysis included Jared Brindley, Helen Selimiotis, and Rachel Bulloch.

Disclosure Statement

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest.

Notes on Contributors

Wallace Boone Law (M. Phil. 2004, Australian National University) is a Senior Archaeologist with Scarp Archaeology Pty Ltd and an Associate Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage at James Cook University. He is also a PhD candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Adelaide, where he is using aerial and satellite remote sensing technologies to investigate past Aboriginal land use in the Australian arid zone. His research interests include spatial science, environmental remote sensing, geoarchaeology, stone artifact analysis, and desert archaeology.

Michael Jon Slack (PhD 2007, University of Sydney) is the Director of Scarp Archaeology Pty. Ltd. and a Partner Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage at James Cook University. His research interests include hunter-gatherer archaeology, Pleistocene subsistence-settlement models, lithic technology, and the practical application of theory to archaeology.

ORCID

W. Boone Law http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9803-4924