Hidden in plain sight: the archaeological landscape of Mithaka Country, south-west Queensland

Title
Hidden in plain sight: the archaeological landscape of Mithaka Country, south-west Queensland
Publication Date
2021-08
Author(s)
Westaway, Michael C
Williams, Douglas
Lowe, Kelsey
Wright, Nathan John
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2482-2661
Email: nwrigh28@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:nwrigh28
Kerkhove, Ray
Silcock, Jennifer
Gorringe, Joshua
Miszkiewicz, Justyna
Wood, Rachel
Adams, Richard
Manne, Tiina
Adams, Shaun
Miscamble, Tony
Stout, Justin
Wrobel, Gabriel D
Kemp, Justin
Hendry, Brooke
Gorringe, Max
Gorringe, Betty
Lander, Keiron
Gorringe, Shawnee
Andrews, Ian
Collard, Mark
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Place of publication
United Kingdom
DOI
10.15184/aqy.2021.31
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/34784
Abstract
Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in activities rarely recorded elsewhere on the continent, including food storage, aquaculture and possible cultivation, yet there has been little archaeological fieldwork to verify these accounts. Here, the authors report on a collaborative research project initiated by the Mithaka people addressing this lack of archaeological investigation. The results show that Mithaka Country has a substantial and diverse archaeological record, including numerous large stone quarries, multiple ritual structures and substantial dwellings. Our archaeological research revealed unknown aspects, such as the scale of Mithaka quarrying, which could stimulate re-evaluation of Aboriginal socio-economic systems in parts of ancient Australia.
Link
Citation
Antiquity, 95(382), p. 1043-1060
ISSN
1745-1744
0003-598X
Start page
1043
End page
1060
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International

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