Artefact discard and accumulated patterns in stone artefact assemblage composition in surface archaeological deposits from Pine Point and Langwell Stations, western New South Wales

I wish to acknowledge the assistance of Simon Holdaway, Patricia Fanning and Peter Sheppard for supporting my Doctoral research. The Broken Hill Local Aboriginal Land Council supported the project and consented to the excavation of the heat retainer hearths. This work was funded by a University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship, an AIATSIS grant, and a University of Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory grant. The Harvy family of Pine Point and the Harrison family of Langwell allowed me to undertake research on their properties. Lisa Howard and Bridget Mosley read drafts of the paper.

Barton H. J. (2001). Mobilising lithic studies: an application of evolutionary ecology to understand prehistoric patterns of human behaviour in the Simpson Desert, far western Queensland. PhD thesis, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Baumler M. F. (1988). Core reduction, flake production, and the Middle Paleolithic industry of Zobište (Yugoslavia). In: ‘Upper Pleistocene prehistory of Western Eurasia’. (Eds H. L. Dibble and A. Montet-White.) pp. 255–274. (University of Pennsylvania Museum: Philadelphia.)

Binford L. R. (1978) Dimensional analysis of behavior and site structure: learning from an Eskimo hunting stand. American Antiquity 43, 330–361.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Binford L. R. (1980) Willow smoke and dogs tails: hunter-gather settlement systems and archaeological site formation. American Antiquity 45, 4–20.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Blades B. (1999) Aurignacian lithic economy and early modern human mobility: new perspectives from classic sites in the Vézère Valley of France. Journal of Human Evolution 37, 91–120.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed |

Blades B. (2001). ‘Aurignacian lithic economy: ecological perspectives from southwestern France.’ (Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers: New York.)

Blades B. (2003) End scraper reduction and hunter-gather mobility. American Antiquity 68, 141–156.

Camilli E. L. (1983). Site occupational history and lithic assemblage structure: an example from southeastern Utah. PhD thesis, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA.

Cane S. (1984). Desert camps: a case study of stone artefacts and behaviour in the western desert. PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

Cooper P. F. (1975). ‘1:250,000 geological series explanatory notes, Broken Hill.’ (Department of Mines Geological Survey of New South Wales: Sydney.)

Cupper M. (1998) Casuarinaceae: Chenopodiaceae pollen ratios and soil salinization in the Murray-Darling Basin. Quaternary Australasia 16, 28–34.

Cupper M. L., Drinnan A. N., Thomas I. (2000) Holocene palaeoenvironments of salt lakes in the Darling Anabranch region, south-western New South Wales, Australia. Journal of Biogeography 27, 1079–1094.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Dewar R. E. , and McBride K. A. (1992). Remnant settlement patterns. In: ‘Space, time and archaeological landscapes’. (Eds J. Rossignol and L. Wandsnider.) pp. 227–255. (Plenum Press: New York.)

Dibble H. L. , Roth B. , and Lenior M. (1995). The use of raw materials at Combe–Capelle Bas. In: ‘The middle paleolithic site of Combe–Capelle Bas (France)’. (Eds H. Dibble and M. Lenior.) pp. 259–287. (University of Pennsylvania Museum: Philadelphia.)

Dickerson F. P. (1977). Quartz flaking. In: ‘Stone tools as cultural markers; change, evolution, and complexity’. (Ed. R. V. S. Wright.) pp. 97–103. (Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies: Canberra.)

Doelman T. (2005) Quarrying masses of information: an approach to the recording and interpretation of a quarry assemblage. Archaeology in Oceania 40, 50–61.

Doelman T., Webb J., Domanski M. (2001) Source to discard: patterns of lithic raw material procurement and use in Sturt National Park, northwestern New South Wales. Archaeology in Oceania 36, 15–33.

Elston R. E. (1990). A cost-benefit model of lithic assemblage variability. In: ‘The archaeology of James Creek shelter’. (Eds R. G. Elston and E. E. Bundy.) pp. 153–164. (University of Utah Anthropological Papers 115: Salt Lake City.)

Fanning P. (1999) Recent landscape history in arid Western New South Wales, Australia: a model for regional change. Geomorphology 29, 191–209.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Fanning P., Holdaway S. J. (2001) Stone artifact scatters in western NSW, Australia: geomorphic controls on artifact size. Geoarchaeology 16, 667–686.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Gould R. (1980). ‘Living archaeology.’ (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.)

Holdaway S. (2000). ‘Economic approaches to stone artefact raw material variation. In: ‘Australian archaeologist: collected papers in honour of Jim Allen’. (Eds A. Anderson and T. Murray.) pp. 217–230. (Coombs Academic Publishing: Canberra.)

Holdaway S. (2004). ‘Continuity and change: an investigation of the flaked stone artefacts from the Pleistocene deposits at Bone Cave South West Tasmania, Australia. Report of the Southern Forest Archaeological Project Vol. 2 Archaeology Program’. (School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University: Bundoora.)

Holdaway S., Fanning P., Jones M., Shiner J., Witter D., Nicholls G. (2002) Variability in the chronology of late Holocene Aboriginal occupation on the arid margin of southeastern Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 29, 351–363.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Holdaway S., Fanning P., Witter D. (2000) Prehistoric Aboriginal occupation of the rangelands: interpreting the surface archaeological record of Far Western New South Wales. The Rangeland Journal 22, 44–57.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Holdaway S., Fanning P., Shiner J. (2005) Absence of evidence or evidence of absence? Understanding the chronology of Indigenous occupation of western New South Wales, Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 40, 33–49.

Holdaway S. , Fanning P. , and Shiner J. (2006). ‘Geoarchaeological investigation of Aboriginal landscape occupation in Paroo–Darling National Park, eastern NSW, Australia.’ (Research in Anthropology and Linguistics, Electronic Series, Department of Anthropology, the University of Auckland: Auckland, NZ.)

Holdaway S., Shiner J., Fanning P. (2004) Hunter–gatherers and the archaeology of the long term: an analysis of surface, stone artefact scatters from Sturt National Park, New South Wales, Australia. Asian Perspective 43, 34–72.

Holdaway S. , and Stern N. (2004). ‘A record in stone: the study of Australia’s flaked stone artefacts’. (Museum Victoria and Aboriginal Studies Press, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies: Canberra.)

Holdaway S., Witter D., Fanning P., Musgrave R., Cochrane G., Doelman T., Greenwood S., Pigdon D., Reeves J. (1998) New approaches to open site spatial archaeology in Sturt National Park, New South Wales, Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 33, 1–19.

Jones M., Nicholls G. (2002) New radiocarbon calibration software. Radiocarbon 44, 663–674.

O’Connell J. F. (1987) Alyawara site structure and its archaeological implications. American Antiquity 52, 74–108.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Robins R. (1998) Archaeological investigations at Youlain Springs, Southwest Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Cultural Heritage Series 1, 57–74.

Roth B. J., Dibble H. L. (1998) Production and transport of blanks and tools at the French Middle Paleolithic site of Combe–Capelle Bas. American Antiquity 63, 47–62.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Shiner J. (2004). Place as occupational histories: towards an understanding of deflated surface artefact distributions in the West Darling, New South Wales, Australia. PhD thesis, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

Shiner J. , Holdaway S. , Allen H. , and Fanning P. (2005). Stone artefact assemblage variability in late Holocene contexts in western New South Wales: Burkes Cave, Stud Creek and Fowlers Gap. In: ‘Lithics down under: Australian perspectives on lithic reduction, use and classification’. (Eds C. Clarkson and L. Lamb.) pp. 67–80. (British Archaeological Reports: Oxford.)

Shott M. (1996) An exegesis of the curation concept. Journal of Anthropological Research 52, 259–280.

Thorley P. B. (1998). Shifting location, shifting scale: a regional landscape approach to the prehistoric archaeology of the Palmer River catchment, Central Australia. PhD thesis, Northern Territory University, Darwin, Australia.

Veth P. M. (1993). ‘Islands in the interior: the dynamics of prehistoric adaptations within the arid zone of Australia.’ (International Monographs in Prehistory: Ann Arbor.)

Walker P. J. (1991). ‘Land systems of Western New South Wales. Technical Report No. 25 and maps.’ (Soil Conservation Service of New South Wales: Sydney.)

Wandsnider L. (1998). Regional scale processes and archaeological landscape units. In: ‘Unit issues in archaeology: measuring time, space and material’. (Eds A. Ramenofsky and A. Steffen.) pp. 87–102. (University of Utah Press: Salt Lake City.)

Witter D. (1992). Regions and resources. PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.

Witter D. (2004) Regional variation of the archaeology in western New South Wales. The Rangeland Journal 26, 129–149.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |

Yellen J. E. (1977). ‘Archaeological approaches to the present: models for reconstructing the past.’ (Academic Press: New York.)