Article2009

Multiple uses for Australian backed artefacts

Gail Robertson · Val J. Attenbrow · Peter Dixon Hiscock

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Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology Archaeology and ancient environmental studies Australian Indigenous Culture and History

Abstract

Abstract Backed artefacts, otherwise microliths or backed bladelets, are key indicators of cultural practice in early Australia – but what were they used for? The authors review a number of favourite ideas – hunting, scarification, wood working – and then apply use-wear analysis and residue studies to three prehistoric assemblages. These showed contact with a wide range of materials: wood, plants, bone, blood, skin and feathers. These results are unequivocal – the backed artefacts were hafted and employed as versatile tools with many functions.

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References

2007Archaeology of Ancient Australia 1982Hafting and Retooling: Effects on the Archaeological Record 1984A Prehistory of Australia, New Guinea and Sahul.1983A Prehistory of Australia, New Guinea and Sahul 2020Prehistory of Australia 1983Archaeology of the dreamtime 1994Technological responses to risk in Holocene Australia 2007Finding resolution for the Howiesons Poort through the microscope: micro-residue analysis of segments from Sibudu Cave, South Africa

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