Change in the Australian desert culture: A reanalysis of tulas from Puntutjarpa rocksheiter

1 February 1991

journal article
research article
Published by Taylor & Francis in World Archaeology

Vol. 22 (3) , 332-345
https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1991.9980150

Abstract

Claims for long‐term conservatism of an Australian desert adaptation are assessed by re‐examining one component of the stone artefact assemblage from Puntutjarpa, a rocksheiter in the Western Desert. It is concluded that significant technological changes occur and especially that adzing tools are absent from the early Holocene levels of the site. This finding confirms recent discoveries of demographic, settlement, and technological change elsewhere in the Australian arid zone; and it necessitates the rejection of perceptions of cultural continuity since the Western Desert was first occupied.

Keywords

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