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Late Holocene Indigenous Economies of the Tropical Australian Coast: An archaeological study of the Darwin region
Patricia Mary Bourke
This monograph presents a study of Indigenous economies in traditional Larrakia country, the Darwin coastal region of northern Australia, during the Late Holocene period. Subsistence and settlement patterns of this period are revealed through archaeological investigation of shell mounds, which dominate the study area and have long been a topic of scholarly interest both internationally and in Australia. Addressed are cultural, environmental and taphonomic aspects of mound formation and the implications of inter and intra-midden variability for interpretations of chronological change in hunter-gatherer economic systems, particularly with regard to theories of Holocene intensification in the Australian literature. In this work, therefore, the author explores the question of why people built mounds of shell and why they then stopped this practice that had continued for millennia.
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Front Cover
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Title Page
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Copyright
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Preface
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Acknowledgements
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Table of Contents
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List of Figures
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List of Plates
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List of Tables
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1 Introduction: An archaeological study of the Darwin coastal region
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2 Changing environments, seasons and resources
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3 Ethnographic and historic records of Indigenous coastal economies in the tropical Top End
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4 Methods
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5 Archaeological sites on the Darwin coast
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6 Considerations in midden analysis
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7 Inter and intra-midden variability on Middle Arm Peninsula
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8 Variability within and between archaeological sites at Hope Inlet
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9 Mounds of meaning: The nature of the archaeological record and past occupation of the Darwin coast
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10 Chronological change in late Holocene resource exploitation
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11 Late Holocene economies in the Darwin region: Interpretation of cultural deposits and intensification
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12 Summary, discussion and conclusions
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List of References
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Citable Link
Published: 2012
Publisher: BAR Publishing
- 9781407309231 (paperback)
- 9781407339061 (ebook)
BAR Number: S2340