Challenging intensification: human—environment interactions in the Holocene geoarchaeological record from western New South Wales, Australia
Challenging intensification: human—environment interactions in the Holocene geoarchaeological record from western New South Wales, Australia
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具有挑战性的强化：澳大利亚新南威尔士州西部全新世地质考古记录中的人类与环境相互作用
DOI：
10.1177/0959683607087930
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发表时间：
2008
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
E. Rhodes
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
S. Holdaway;P. Fanning;E. Rhodes
20世纪80年代初，澳大利亚考古学发展了一种强化理论，目的是使澳大利亚狩猎采集者的研究更接近其他地方狩猎采集者研究的理论发展。考古学沉积物的数量和范围的明显增加被解释为人口增加和社会复杂性增加的结合，始于公元前2-3000年。为了支持这一理论，收集了大量的数据，但除了一两个例外，这些数据都没有得到直接的检验。在这里，我们报告了一系列的研究，使我们能够制定一个测试的一个方面的强化理论。使用沉积物的OSL测定构建的年表结合炉床木炭获得的年龄测定结果，开发一个“信封的时间”为人类占领的澳大利亚干旱区东南边缘。结果表明，在新南威尔士州西部晚全新世记录的考古材料的数量和范围的明显增加反映了这些材料休息的表面的年龄。在全新世末期，考古记录的明显快速增长反映了随着时间的推移，侵蚀和沉积过程的高潮已经消除或覆盖了早期的考古记录。大量来自炉床的放射性碳测定表明，在全新世晚期，该地区的占领并不连续，在气候变化期间，该地区的占领停止了。对地表石制品组合的分析并不支持存在半永久性营地或大量人口聚集的说法。因此，我们的结论是，至少在我们研究的新南威尔士州西部地区的集约化理论是不正确的，在全新世的人与环境的相互作用比人工制品和/或现场数据的简单总结所反映的要复杂得多。
An intensification theory was developed in Australian archaeology in the early 1980s from a desire to make the study of Australian hunter-gatherers closer to theoretical developments in hunter-gatherer studies elsewhere. An apparent increase in the quantity and range of archaeological deposits was interpreted as demonstrating a combination of population increase and increased social complexity beginning 2—3000 years BP. Data were amassed in support of the theory but, with only one or two exceptions, they were not directly tested. Here we report on a series of studies that permit us to formulate a test for one aspect of the intensification theory. Chronologies constructed using OSL determinations of sediments are combined with the results of age determinations obtained from hearth charcoal to develop an `envelope of time' for human occupation of the southeast margin of the Australian arid zone. The results indicate that the apparent increase in the quantity and range of archaeological materials in the late-Holocene record of western New South Wales reflects the age of the surface on which these materials rest. The apparent rapid increase in the archaeological record at the end of the Holocene reflects the culmination of erosion and deposition processes through time that have removed or covered archaeological records from earlier periods. A large number of radiocarbon determinations from hearths suggest that occupation was not continuous in the late Holocene, with occupation ceasing in this area during periods of climatic change. Analysis of surface stone artefact assemblages does not support the existence of semi-permanent camps or the congregation of large numbers of people. We conclude, therefore, that the intensification theory is incorrect at least in the areas of western New South Wales we have studied, and that human—environment interactions in the Holocene were much more complex than reflected by a simple summing of artefact and/or site data.