Flexibility of stone tool manufacturing methods on the Georgina River, Camooweal, Queensland

Abstract

The Australian Aboriginal approach to stone technology is often characterised as highly flexible, a phenomenon well-documented by ethnographic observation. In the Australian context, it would appear that a stone's function was only loosely related to its form. Nevertheless, many ethnographic studies recognise that artefact manufacture was "aimed at" producing specific forms (Home and Aiston 1924:92). This study examines the extent of rigidity in artefact manufacture through an archaeological analysis of a large stone assemblage from Camooweal, northwestern Queensland, Australia. The reduction sequence which created the assemblage is modeled and the rigidity of the various trajectories comprising the reduction sequence is assessed by the degree to which blanks for "aimed at" forms crossed between trajectories. While the ethnographic literature indicates that various artefact categories tended to be used in an ad hoc fashion, the results of the technological analysis indicate that blank production for "aimed at" forms was, in fact, relatively rigid. This stands at odds with sweeping generalisations about the flexibility of Aboriginal lithic technology.