Australian Archaeology

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Archived at Flinders University: dspace.flinders.edu.au

Full Citation Details:

Lampert, R.J. 1975. A Preliminary report on some waisted blades found on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. 'Australian

Archaeology', no.2, 45-48.

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i n which t h e i s l a n d was p a r t i c u l a r l y r i c h . I am indebted t o M r H . J . Gibbney of t h e Research School of Social Sciences, A.N.U., f o r b r i n g i n g t h e s e references t o my a t t e n t i o n .

There i s evidence f o r Aborigines having v i s i t e d o t h e r o f f s h o r e i s l a n d s along t h e south c o a s t of New South Wales. In h i s j o u r n a l o f 1797, t h e explorer George Bass r e f e r s t o Aborigines on Brush Island, 1 km offshore from k r r a m a r a n g P o i n t . Writing i n t h e

Proceedings of the Geographical Society o f Australia

f o r 1883, J . F . Mann t e l l s o f Aboriginal canoe voyages t o t h e T o l l g a t e Islands, 3-4 km o u t from t h e headlands f l a n k i n g t h e entrance t o t h e Clyde

River. Like Montagu I s l a n d , both Brush Island and t h e Tollgates have muttonbird r o o k e r i e s .

R. J. Lampert

A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON SOME WAISTED BLADES FOUND ON KANGAROO ISLAND, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

While examining s u r f a c e c o l l e c t ions o f Kartan t o o l s from Kangaroo I s l a n d , I saw s i x implements t h a t bear a s t r i k i n g resemblance t o t h e f l a k e d waisted blades of Papua New Guinea.

O f t h e f o u r i l l u s t r a t e d h e r e , A

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C were found r e c e n t l y on a p a s t o r a l l e a s e and a r e owned by t h e farmer, while D, together with another waisted t o o l , was discovered by t h e archaeologist H.M. Cooper. Both o f t h e specimens c o l l e c t e d by Cooper a r e i n t h e South A u s t r a l i a n Museum and a r e a l r e a d y on record (Cooper 1968).

A s i x t h implement, i n t h e museum a t Kingscote, came t o l i g h t on a p a s t o r a l l e a s e n o t f a r from t h e one on which specimens A

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C were found. The d e s c r i p t i o n s given here a r e based on photographs taken with a hand-held camera, b r i e f notes and a few b a s i c measurements.

F u l l e r d e t a i l s w i l l follow a f u t u r e examination.

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With t h e exception of one, made on a q u a r t z i t e pebble, t h e t o o l s a r e made on f l a t t i s h s l a b s t h a t appear t o have formed by s p l i t t i n g along p a r a l l e l n a t u r a l f r a c t u r e p l a n e s i n t h e s t o n e . The most c h a r a c t e r i s t i c f e a t u r e of t h e t o o l s i s a p a i r of almost i d e n t i c a l , opposing notches flaked b i f a c i a l l y i n t o t h e i r long s i d e s . A s well a s t h e notches, most of t h e r e s t o f t h e margin of a t o o l i s flaked b i f a c i a l l y , providing f a i r l y s h a r p edges, except on one specimen ( f i g . B) which has f l a t t i s h , unflaked ends.

Archaeologists working i n Papua New Guinea assume t h a t very s i m i l a r waisted blades found t h e r e functioned as axes, t h e ends o f a t o o l being i t s c u t t i n g edges and t h e notches a h a f t i n g device (Golson 1971, Allen 1972, Bulmer forthcoming)

.

^Compared

with t h e New Guinea t o o l s , those from Kangaroo I s l a n d f a l l w i t h i n t h e range o f forms given by Bulmer (forthcoming) and appear t o share t h e same techniques of manufacture. I n l e n g t h , t h e s i x

t o o l s range between 15 and 26 cm w i t h a mean of 19 cm. By c o n t r a s t , t h e Yuku waisted blades, which a r e t h e l a r g e s t among t h e New Guinea c o l l e c t i o n s , range between 8.5 and 21.5 cm with a mean o f 12.1 cm.

These ranges overlap, but t h e mean v a l u e s a r e d i s s i m i l a r enough t o suggest t h a t Kangaroo Island t o o l s may be g e n e r a l l y l a r g e r than t h e i r New Guinea counterparts.

A s well a s t h e Kangaroo I s l a n d specimens, Cooper (1968) records two, o r possibly t h r e e , o t h e r f l a k e d t o o l s with opposed notches from mainland South A u s t r a l i a . I saw another i n a p r i v a t e c o l l e c t i o n made near We1 l i n g t o n , New Sauth Wales. McCarthy (l967 : 53) describes 'Mackay h a m e r s t o n e s as,

"large, roughly-made implements fashioned from weathered f l a t pieces of [stone]. Most o f them a r e deeply waisted on each s i d e and occasional specimens are f u l l y grooved.

. . . .

.The waist was shaped by f l a k i n g , and was t h e n apparently b a t t e r e d by u s e . No d e s c r i p t i o n o f t h e i r u s e e x i s t s . They a r e from 4 t o 7 inches long, and up t o almost 7 pounds i n weight. The b e s t s e r i e s known i s from Mackay d i s t r i c t i n Queensland, but o t h e r s have been found i n e a s t e r n New South Wales."

I examined t h r e e M a c k a y ~ e r s t o n e s , i n c l u d i n g t h e specimen f i g u r e d by McCarthy (1967:72), a t t h e A u s t r a l i a n Museum. T h e i r l e n g t h s a r e 16, 16 and 24 cm, and they have opposing, b i f a c i a l l y f l a k e d notches a s described f o r t h e Kangaroo I s l a n d specimens. Only one, McCarthyVs i l l u s t r a t e d example, i s b i f a c i a l l y f l a k e d a t t h e end;

t h e o t h e r two have unflaked, f l a t t i s h ends formed by weathered, n a t u r a l f r a c t u r e planes. No pecking, t y p i c a l o f hammerstone u s e , was seen on t h e s e s u r f a c e s . My impression, based on r a t h e r inadequate samples, i s t h a t t h e Queens land and Kangaroo I s land t o o l s do not d i f f e r g r e a t l y .

The above evidence, l e a d s m e t o suggest t h a t waisted b l a d e s have a widespread d i s t r i b u t i o n i n A u s t r a l i a but a r e n o t conmon

enough t o have a t t r a c t e d notice. Other specimens could e x i s t i n

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museum c o l l e c t i o n s , w i t h t h e i r i d e n t i t y obscured simply through n o t b e i n g named by t h e r e c e n t l y coined term, waisted blade.

In New Guinea t h e e a r l i e s t waisted blades have an a n t i q u i t y o f a t l e a s t 26,000 years and t h e i r use continued well i n t o t h e p o s t - P l e i s t o c e n e (White e t al. 1970). On e u s t a t i c evidence t h e Kangaroo I s l a n d specimens a r e almost c e r t a i n l y o l d e r than 10,000 y e a r s (Lampert 1972)

,

while t h e i r massiveness

s u g g e s t s d i r e c t a s s o c i a t i o n with t h e Kartan industry which has a probably a n t i q u i t y exceeding 16,000 years and may be considerably o l d e r (Lampert forthcoming)

.

Before t h e Kangaroo Island specimens came t o l i g h t , flaked waisted blades had n o t been recognised anywhere i n A u s t r a l i a . Because A u s t r a l i a and New Guinea were joined throughout t h e P l e i s t o c e n e , t h e presence of waisted blades a t s e v e r a l s i t e s of P l e i s t o c e n e age i n New Guinea, and an apparent absence o f t h e t o o l s i n A u s t r a l i a , had been seen e i t h e r a s p e r p l e x i n g (Allen 1972: 185) o r a s i n d i c a t i v e of regional

d i v e r s i t y w i t h i n t h e c o n t i n e n t of Australia-New Guinea (Howells 1973: 188). However, t h e presence of waisted blades i n A u s t r a l i a s u p p o r t s t h e view t h a t t h e o l d land mass had a broadly uniform technology, an opinion advanced by Allen (1972) and Jones (1973) through s i m i l a r i t i e s t h e y saw i n o t h e r t o o l s of flaked stone.

R . J . Lampert

Bib1 iography

Allen, J. 1972 The f i r s t decade i n New Guinea archaeology.

Antiquity

4 6 : 180-90.

Bulmer, S. (forthcoming). Waisted blades and axes. A f u n c t i o n a l i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f some e a r l y stone t o o l s from Papua New Guinea. In Wright, R.V.S.

(ed .)

Stone t o o l s as cuZturrzZ markers.

Cooper, H.M. 1968 A f u r t h e r d e s c r i p t i o n of l a r g e stone implements from South Australia.

Rec.

South

Aust.

^&S. 15: 581-603.

Golson, J. 1971 Both s i d e s of t h e Wallace Line: A u s t r a l i a , New Guinea and Asian Prehistory. ArchueoZogy and PhysicaZ

AnthropoZogy i n Oceania

6: 124-44.

Howells, W. 1973 The P d f i c

Islanders.

Wellington:

A.H. 6 A.W. Reed.

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Jones, R . 1973 Emerging p i c t u r e o f P l e i s t o c e n e A u s t r a l i a n s . Nature 246: 278-81.

Lampert, R.J. 1972 A carbon d a t e f o r t h e Aboriginal occupation of Kangaroo I s l a n d , South A u s t r a l i a .

Mankind 8:223-4.

Lampert, R. J. (forthcoming) Kangaroo I s l a n d and t h e a n t i q u i t y of Australians. I n Wright, R . V . S . (ed.) Stone too 2s as c u t t u r a t markers.

McCarthy

,

F. D. 1967 AustraZian

AboriginaZ

stone hpZements.

Sydney: The A u s t r a l i a n Museum.

White, J.P., K.A.W. Crook and B.P. Ruxton 1970 Kosipe: a Late Pleistocene s i t e i n t h e Papuan Highlands.

Proceedings of

the Prehistoric Society

36~152-70.

FIELDWORK IN NORTH QUEENSLAND

A s p a r t o f a f i e l d survey of t h e Herbert/Burdekin d i s t r i c t i n North Queensland, f o u r small excavations were undertaken d u r i n g 1974. These were a t t h e foot of t h e range t o t h e west o f Kennedy;

n e a r Jourama, about 15 kilometres south-west o f Ingham; a t t h e b a s e

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o f Herveys Range, 25 kilometres west of Townsville; and n e a r Mount Roundback, approximately 20 kilometres n o r t h o f Bowen.

S h e l l material, not yet analysed, was obtained from a l l s i t e s , and bone was a l s o found in a l l s i t e s , although markedly l e s s a t Mount Roundback. Analysis o f t h i s m a t e r i a l i s i n progress.

Preliminary examination of t h e s t o n e a r t i f a c t s and waste m a t e r i a l shows a predominance o f quartz, p a r t i c u l a r l y a t Mount Roundback where t h e deposit consisted almost e n t i r e l y o f q u a r t z , with only a few d e f i n i t e s i g n s o f u t i l i z a t i o n . The t h r e e s i t e s t o t h e n o r t h a l l produced a g r e a t e r amount and more v a r i e d u t i l i z e d m a t e r i a l t h a n Mount Roundback, p a r t i c u l a r l y Herveys Range and Jourama. In no case however does t h e t y p i c a l typology seem t o apply: u t i l i z e d p i e c e s a r e q u i t e i r r e g u l a r and t h e r e i s very l i t t l e evidence of secondary retouch.

A t t h i s s t a g e a v a i l a b l e d a t e s a r e :

Kenned y (40-50 cms) 685 ^it 105 BP GX3666 Mount Roundback (10-15 c m ) 1130 130 BP GX3670 (25-30 crns) 1650 120 BP GX3669 Jourama (15-25 c m ) 1450

+

^{110 BP} ^GX3667/8

He l en Brayshaw

Department o f H i s t o r y James Cook U n i v e r s i t y