Time matters on shallow open sites: An example from Western Sydney, Australia

Abstract

Considering matters of time is essential for the study of artefact assemblages from shallow open sites on the Cumberland Plain of western Sydney. Matters of time are not optional extras. Open sites can have different histories of artefact accumulation, as indicated by varying proportions of different raw material types with depth of deposit. These raw material changes are consistent with demonstrated regional changes and provide very rough chronologies for the phases during which artefacts accumulated. As it is not often possible to use stratigraphy to distinguish between older and younger artefacts on these sites, the artefact assemblages are treated in this thesis as time-averaged palimpsests. This research has demonstrated that the nature of silcrete assemblages tend to differ depending on the temporal phases of artefact accumulation. Assemblages which have accumulated during one phase (the Bondaian or Phase 2) demonstrate trends with increasing distance from quarries (distance-decay); more so than assemblages which accumulated during multiple temporal phases. Change in silcrete procurement and reduction strategies during the earliest phase (Pre-Bondaian or Phase 1) and during the most recent phase (Late Bondaian or Phase 2B) are affected by the nature of time-averaged assemblages, disrupting distance-decay trends. Further, assemblages from high density knapping concentrations – single episodes of knapping activity – are highly varied, even within single sites. The approach and methods adopted in this research are likely to be applicable to many other regions where otherwise undated stone artefacts in shallow deposits are the predominant type of archaeological evidence.