Ice Age wallaby hunters of Tasmania
Aug. 12th, 2004 03:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_e[sigh! once again I find myself wishing I was in Melbourne still]
Wednesday 18 August 2004, at 8 pm
ANZAAS FREE talk in Melbourne at the Kaleide Theatre (RMIT)
360 Swanston Street, 100 metres up from Latrobe Street
Refreshments after the talk
Dr Richard Cosgrove
Archaeology Program, La Trobe University
Archaeological evidence of Tasmania’s Ice Age Aboriginal occupation has been a major research focus of the archaeology group at La Trobe University. The evidence is from numerous cave and rockshelter sites in southwest Tasmania, with radiocarbon ages derived from charcoal accompanying human artefacts (animal bones and stone tools) dug from various depths.
The earliest artefacts are at least 35,000 years old. The people must have come to Tasmania across the land bridge connection that existed when large ice buildups on the continents had lowered the sea level by at least 120 m. At the end of the Ice Age, the sea level rose, began to flood the former land bridge 14,000 years ago, and reached today’s level about 6000 years ago.
Remarkably, at the end of the Ice Age the numerous long-occupied sites in the mountainous south-west were totally abandoned. This is explained by the people’s dependence on Bennett’s wallabies as their principal source of food and warm clothing. The animals depended on areas of grasses and herbs that grew at the higher altitudes during the Ice Age; but with the subsequent warmer and moister climate, the temperate forests at lower altitudes expanded upwards to engulf the grassed areas, and the animals dispersed to other locations.
Use of the cave sites in relation to season has, until recently, remained a mystery, though it has generally been assumed that it would have been during summer. However, recent examination of wallaby teeth has provided an amazing insight. Incredibly, the Aboriginal hunters occupied these upland valleys during the coldest months, principally between autumn and early spring. It is not known where they spent the summer; it may have been on the coast or areas to the north. Research on these aspects continues to fascinate us, in demonstrating the resourcefulness and flexibility of Australia’s earliest settlers.
More Info: Eric Webb, tel: (03) 9885-6407;
e-mail:ericwebb@connexus.net.au
Wednesday 18 August 2004, at 8 pm
ANZAAS FREE talk in Melbourne at the Kaleide Theatre (RMIT)
360 Swanston Street, 100 metres up from Latrobe Street
Refreshments after the talk
Ice Age wallaby hunters of Tasmania
Dr Richard Cosgrove
Archaeology Program, La Trobe University
Archaeological evidence of Tasmania’s Ice Age Aboriginal occupation has been a major research focus of the archaeology group at La Trobe University. The evidence is from numerous cave and rockshelter sites in southwest Tasmania, with radiocarbon ages derived from charcoal accompanying human artefacts (animal bones and stone tools) dug from various depths.
The earliest artefacts are at least 35,000 years old. The people must have come to Tasmania across the land bridge connection that existed when large ice buildups on the continents had lowered the sea level by at least 120 m. At the end of the Ice Age, the sea level rose, began to flood the former land bridge 14,000 years ago, and reached today’s level about 6000 years ago.
Remarkably, at the end of the Ice Age the numerous long-occupied sites in the mountainous south-west were totally abandoned. This is explained by the people’s dependence on Bennett’s wallabies as their principal source of food and warm clothing. The animals depended on areas of grasses and herbs that grew at the higher altitudes during the Ice Age; but with the subsequent warmer and moister climate, the temperate forests at lower altitudes expanded upwards to engulf the grassed areas, and the animals dispersed to other locations.
Use of the cave sites in relation to season has, until recently, remained a mystery, though it has generally been assumed that it would have been during summer. However, recent examination of wallaby teeth has provided an amazing insight. Incredibly, the Aboriginal hunters occupied these upland valleys during the coldest months, principally between autumn and early spring. It is not known where they spent the summer; it may have been on the coast or areas to the north. Research on these aspects continues to fascinate us, in demonstrating the resourcefulness and flexibility of Australia’s earliest settlers.
More Info: Eric Webb, tel: (03) 9885-6407;
e-mail:ericwebb@connexus.net.au