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https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/12252
Title: | Colonising Sahul | Contributor(s): | Moore, Mark (author) | Publication Date: | 2012 | Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/12252 | Abstract: | A vague notion of 'wanderlust' seems to be the driving force in many narratives about hominin migration (e.g. Dennell and Roebroeks 2005), but, true to the zeitgeist, O'Connell and Allen have shown us that wanderlust is all about food. The strength of behavioural ecology is the explicit nature of the underlying assumptions and the clear connection between forager theory, predictive statements and archaeological evidence. Summarising several optimal foraging models, O'Connell and Allen conclude that optimising hominins are pulled from patch to patch by the serial depletion of highest ranked resources. The logic of their scenario is straightforward: the archaeological record shows that humans colonised Wallacea and Sahul, and the theoretical model stipulates that forager movement is linked to exploitation of highest ranked prey, therefore colonisation was driven by the pursuit of highest ranked prey. One might question whether certain assumptions of optimal foraging models - for example, that foragers have perfect resource knowledge and the perfect ability to exploit it - would apply to the first wave of colonists to cross the Wallace Line, but the successful colonisation itself might be de facto evidence that the costs of imperfect knowledge were not prohibitively high. O'Connell and Allen posit that, after colonisation, movement between patches in pursuit of highest ranked prey became the norm as foragers made nearly-continuous readjustment to unstable climatic conditions. | Publication Type: | Journal Article | Grant Details: | ARC/DP1096558 | Source of Publication: | Australian Archaeology, v.74, p. 27-28 | Publisher: | Australian Archaeological Association Inc | Place of Publication: | Australia | ISSN: | 2470-0363 0312-2417 |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 210103 Archaeology of Asia, Africa and the Americas 210101 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Archaeology |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: | 430102 Archaeology of Asia, Africa and the Americas 450101 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander archaeology 450102 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artefacts |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: | 950503 Understanding Australias Past 970121 Expanding Knowledge in History and Archaeology 950599 Understanding Past Societies not elsewhere classified |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: | 130703 Understanding Australia’s past 280114 Expanding knowledge in Indigenous studies 280113 Expanding knowledge in history, heritage and archaeology |
Peer Reviewed: | Yes | HERDC Category Description: | C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal | Publisher/associated links: | http://www.australianarchaeology.com/journal/vol74-forum-comments/ |
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Appears in Collections: | Journal Article School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences |
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