forging new understandings of Aboriginal occupation in the South Wellesley Archipelago

404 Pages·2016·24.3 MB·English

by  Robin Twaddle

ResearchOnline@JCU

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Twaddle, Robin (2016) A novel application of
sclerochronology: forging new understandings of
Aboriginal occupation in the South Wellesley Archipelago,
Gulf of Carpentaria. PhD thesis, James Cook University.

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A Novel Application of Sclerochronology: Forging
New Understandings of Aboriginal Occupation in
the South Wellesley Archipelago, Gulf of
Carpentaria

Robin Twaddle
BA (Hons)

A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts, Society, and
Education, James Cook University, Cairns

August 2016
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge Kaiadilt traditional owners as partners in this research and thank
members of the Kaiadilt community who allowed me to work on their country and share in their
culture and heritage. Without your generosity and knowledge this research would not have been
possible.
Without the help of a great number of people this thesis would not have been possible. Firstly I
would like to thank my supervisors Sean Ulm, Chris Wurster, and Michael Bird. To Chris thank
you for your boundless patience with me and for teaching me a ridiculous amount about
isotopes and chemistry. Michael for being hugely approachable and an all-round great guy as
well as sharing his vast knowledge about palaeoenvironments. To Sean I owe a massive debt of
gratitude for inviting me to join the project, treating me like one of his family, and providing the
opportunity to work in one of the most amazing places I’ve ever had the pleasure to visit.
Without your continued support and friendship I would never have been able to complete this
research. I look forward to working together on future endeavours.
For help in the field I would like to thank Duncan Kelly for taking me onto his country and sharing
his knowledge of the land. To everyone who has been involved with the NILP project, Sean Ulm,
Jill Reid, Lily and Poppy Ulm, Daniel Rosendahl, Emma Oliver, Olive Rosendahl, Patrick Moss,
Craig Sloss, Lydia Mackenzie, Lincoln Steinberger, Texas Nagel, Sam Aird, Cailey Maclaurin, Ali
Sternes, Shoshanna O’Connor, Helene Peck, Annette Oertle, Sarah Slater, Anna Kreij, Selene
Kenady, Jane Hinton, Clair Davey, Kelsey Lowe, Lynda Petherick, and Lynley Wallis thank-you for
sharing your expertise, rowing small boats up tiny creeks at all hours, and croc spotting at night
while I collected water samples. On Sweers Island I would like to thank Tex and Lyn Battle as
well as Brett Jeffries and Sarah Martin for their hospitality and patience with our increasingly
strange requests. Work on Bentinck Island was made immeasurably easier with the help of John
and Melinda Barton.
This research was conducted as a part of a larger inter-disciplinary project working in the South
Wellesley Island region funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project
(DP120103179) Naïve Island Landscapes: People and Environmental Change in Tropical
Sclerophyll Landscapes. The Chief Investigators: Sean Ulm, Patrick Moss, Craig Sloss and Lynley
Wallis provided guidance, assistance and support. Additional radiocarbon dates were obtained
through funding from the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE)
(AINGRA09025: Chief Investigator: Sean Ulm and AINGRA09031: Chief Investigator: Sean Ulm).
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We acknowledge the Kaiadilt traditional owners of the South Wellesley Islands as research
partners. The Kaiadilt Aboriginal Corporation collaborated in establishing the research
framework for this project, which was formalised in an Agreement between the Kaiadilt
Aboriginal Corporation and Kaiadilt Aboriginal Land Trust and James Cook University. This
research was approved by the James Cook University Human Research Ethics Committee
(Human Ethics Approval Number: H4454).
A special thank-you to Jen Whan of the Advanced Analytical Centre (AAC), James Cook
University, Cairns, who ran all samples through the mass spectrometer, answered 1000
questions, and kept smiling through it all. I would also like to extend a special thank-you to
Costjin Zwart who taught me the secrets of the micro-mill. To everyone else in the AAC, thanks
for the daily coffee breaks and generally keeping me sane as I weighed all my tiny bits of
carbonate.
To Sam Aird, Cailey Maclaurin, Texas Nagel, Helene Peck, Jill Reid, and most importantly Bev
Rankine, thank-you so much for welcoming me into your homes and putting up with me hanging
around for weeks on end. To my friends and family who have supported and encouraged me
throughout this whole process, having dinner, drinking, playing videogames, and just being
there with you all is what got me through: Cathie and Ron Twaddle, Helen Twaddle, Mike Howe,
Michael ‘Mickey J.J.’ Feeney, Rachael Smith, Adam ‘The Worst One’ Davey, Alex ‘Silver Fox’
Wheeler, Michael Whitman, Cami Duran, Lachlan and Beth O’Sullivan, Peter Day, Kate Brennan,
Julian Lawford, Matt Harris, Ariana Lambrides, Patrick and Libby Chen, Robert and Josie
Donaldson, Yazz and Jolie Krishna, and Fei and Linh Wu, y’all are the best. Finally, to my partner
Leah Aspinall, I couldn’t have done this without your friendship, love, and encouragement. Best
Leah ever.

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STATEMENT OF THE CONTRIBUTION BY OTHERS
Contributions by others to this thesis
Sean Ulm provided guidance on the initial research design, sampling strategy, and took overall
responsibility for directing fieldwork undertaken as part of this study.
Sean Ulm, Daniel Rosendahl, and Helene Peck undertook the excavation of Thundiy in 2010.
Sean Ulm, Daniel Rosendahl, Helene Peck, Emma Oliver, Texas Nagel, Samantha Aird, and
Annette Oertle undertook the excavation of Murdumurdu in 2012.
Sean Ulm and Daniel Rosendahl undertook live-collection of Polymesoda coaxans specimens
from Mosquito Story in 2012.
Lincoln Steinberger and Sean Ulm prepared location maps and contour maps with elevation
transects (Figures 3.3, 10.2, 11.2, 13.1).
Michelle Langley and Sean Ulm prepared stratigraphic section drawings for all sites (Figures 10.4,
11.6, 12.6, 12.7).
Jen Whan ran isotopic samples through the isotope ratio mass spectrometer and thermal
conversion elemental analysis mass spectrometer.
Sean Ulm, Daniel Rosendahl, Anna Kreij, Sarah Slater, and Helene Peck provided supplementary
photographs with Figures 1.4, 1.5, 3.5, 3.11, 4.2, 4.3, 4.6, 4.12, 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6,
7.3, 7.10, 8.1, 8.7, 10.3, 10.12, 10.13, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5 11.14, 12.2, 12.3, 12.4, and 12.5.
Fieldwork and radiocarbon dates were funded by Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery
Project (DP120103179) Naïve Island Landscapes: People and Environmental Change in Tropical
Sclerophyll Landscapes. Additional radiocarbon dates were funded by the Australian Institute of
Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) grants (AINGRA09025 and AINGRA09031). The author
received an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) scholarship to pursue studies.
My supervisory team Sean Ulm, Michael Bird, and Christopher Wurster provided advice, edits,
and feedback on all chapters included in this thesis.

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Contributions of all authors to any co-authored papers
Chapter Details of publications on which Nature and extent of the intellectual
No. chapter is based input of each author, including the
candidate
2 Twaddle, R.W., S. Ulm, J. Hinton, C.M. The authors co-developed the
Wurster and M. Bird 2016 research questions. Twaddle wrote
Sclerochronological analysis of the first draft which was revised with
archaeological mollusc assemblages: editorial input from Ulm, Hinton,
Methods, applications and future Wurster, and Bird. Hinton provided
prospects. Archaeological and select figures. Twaddle and Ulm
Anthropological Sciences 8(2):359- developed the remaining figures and
379. tables.

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STATEMENT OF ACCESS
I, the undersigned, the author of this thesis, understand that James Cook University will make
the thesis available for use within the University Library and, by microfilm, photographic or
digital means, allow access to users in other approved libraries. All users consulting the thesis
will have to sign the following statement:

“In consulting this thesis, I agree not to copy or closely paraphrase it in whole or in part without
the written consent of the author; and to make proper written acknowledgment for any
assistance that I have obtained from it.”

Beyond this, I do not wish to place any restriction on access to this thesis.

..0...1../.0..8../.2..0..1..6.......
(Signature) (Date)

DECLARATION OF SOURCES
To the best of my knowledge, I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been
submitted in any form for another degree or diploma at any university or other institution of
tertiary education. Information derived from the published or unpublished work of others has
been acknowledged above and in the text and a list of references is given.

Every reasonable effort has been made to gain permission and acknowledge the owners of
copyright material. I would be pleased to hear from any copyright owner who has been omitted
or incorrectly acknowledged.

01/08/2016
..........................
(Signature) (Date)

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ABSTRACT
Changing relationships between people and their environments result in modified patterns of
land-use and occupation as populations respond to fluctuating conditions across space and
through time. Understanding these relationships occurring on a variety of scales is integral to
achieving nuanced interpretations of fundamental Aboriginal lifeways. This is particularly salient
in contexts characterised by stark seasonal shifts in climate, which have long been suggested to
act as key drivers behind fundamental decision-making processes. For Aboriginal groups living
along Australia’s tropical north coast these seasonal changes coincide with the monsoonal cycle,
with ethnographic data demonstrating that seasonality permeates associated behavioural and
cultural systems. Numerous authors have attempted to explain change evident in the
archaeological record using broad models based upon wide-ranging concepts such as shifts in
ENSO intensity. However, these broad models map poorly onto local-scale and/or short-term
patterns, masking diversity and complexity. It is therefore integral that researchers re-evaluate
how behavioural patterning is characterised and interpreted.
This research explores patterns of Kaiadilt Aboriginal occupation in the South Wellesley Islands,
Gulf of Carpentaria, through a targeted study of seasonality in site-use. Select methods from a
sclerochronological framework, particularly stable isotopic analyses of molluscan shell
carbonates, are utilised to analyse specimens (Gafrarium pectinatum, Marcia hiantina, and
Polymesoda coaxans) from both modern and archaeological assemblages. Results from modern
specimens are combined with contemporaneous environmental datasets to characterise
relationships between ambient conditions and shell geochemistry. This allows the efficacy of
target mollusc species to be tested as well as providing an interpretative framework for
archaeological data. Seasonality of occupation is determined for archaeological material
excavated from three sites across Bentinck Island spanning the last 1500 years to generate a
high-resolution chronology of site-use.
Instrumental observations of modern environments highlight stark seasonally timed
hydrological shifts, however corresponding fluctuations were not found in all target mollusc
taxa. The mangrove bivalve Polymesoda coaxans and intertidal bivalve Gafrarium pectinatum
were both deemed unsuitable for use within the context of this research owing to irreconcilable
physiological and ecological complications. Conversely, the subtidal bivalve Marcia hiantina was
found to be an unambiguous recorder of environmental conditions, as well as being the
dominant archaeological species, and thus is employed as the key proxy for characterising
patterns of past seasonality.
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Archaeological findings demonstrate direct links between seasonal climatic patterns and the
timing and periodicity of site-use, although the strength of these relationships fluctuate through
time. Early occupation of the South Wellesley Islands from as early as 3500 years ago appears
highly seasonal, with periods of use timed to coincide with the dry season to take advantage of
conditions that assist wide-ranging foragers in undertaking periodic visitation of the island
group. Subsequent to the permanent occupation of the South Wellesley Islands by the Kaiadilt
in the last 800 years, patterns of repeated use are evident with groups periodically occupying
sites while moving across the local landscape again dominated by dry season use. The most
recent periods of occupation in the last 250 – 300 years suggest a move towards decreased
mobility with longer residency times and more sedentary behaviour evidenced by both dry and
wet season occupation at key sites. Changes to occupation patterns are likely linked with
increases in population size and density. Moreover, the recent stabilisation of sea levels along
with more frequent inclusions of fish remains within the archaeological record suggest that
stone-walled fish trap complexes were increasingly utilised during late periods of occupation.
The static nature of this important resource infrastructure together with the need for
continuous maintenance likely further encouraged sedentary behaviours, establishing strong
ties between Kaiadilt groups and specific areas as well as potentially facilitating the development
of ethnographic land tenure systems.
Results demonstrate the efficacy of scleroisotopic methods in tropical Australian contexts,
provided relationships between target mollusc taxa and environmental conditions are well
understood. This affords the opportunity for archaeologists to approach increasingly nuanced
characterisations of fundamental drivers behind Aboriginal decision-making processes that led
to changing behavioural and cultural systems. Moreover, findings demonstrate the presence of
highly complex patterns of occupation associated with offshore island contexts, requiring local-
scale research to accurately characterise as inter-regional or continental models do not
accurately reflect responses to change at high-resolutions. Results also contribute to recent
discussions regarding changes in social organisation, running parallel to suggestions of a broader
trend towards decreased mobility coinciding with growing populations and emerging social
complexity. Most importantly, this research provides a salient argument for the construction of
broader narratives from local-scale understandings to allow for the complexity and diversity
inherent to Aboriginal cultures.

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