Browsing by Author "Fullagar, R"

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    Late Quaternary landscape evolution in the Keep River region, northwestern Australia
    (Elsevier, 2005-09) Ward, IAK; Nanson, GC; Head, LM; Fullagar, R; Price, DM; Fink, D
    This paper evaluates the Late Quaternary chronostratigraphic context of archaeological sites in the Keep River region, Northern Territory, Australia. Cosmogenic dating, luminescence dating and sediment characterisation reveal sedimentary processes commencing from erosion of the escarpment and plateaux source through temporary storage in sand sheets, to final deposition in alluvial floodplains. Erosion of the sandstone plateaux (∼5 mm ka−1) and escarpment faces (probably ∼50–100 mm ka−1) provide the main sediment source for the adjacent sand sheets which have evolved over the past 100,000 years as the product of ongoing cycles of accumulation and denudation. The rate of sediment accumulation is lowest near the escarpments on the low-energy sediment-limited sand sheets (<100 mm ka−1) and greatest near the main streams (>400 mm ka−1) that have more numerous sediment sources. Collectively, luminescence ages indicate an apparent increase in sediment accumulation rate in the sand sheets from ∼100 mm ka−1 in the late Pleistocene to over 200 mm ka−1 in the Holocene. This most likely reflects enhanced monsoonal activity following postglacial marine transgression. Palaeosol horizons in the creek profile distinguished by sediment mottling mark potentially significant palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic changes during the Quaternary. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd.
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    Reply to comments on Clarkson et al. (2017) ‘Human occupation of northern Australia by 65,000 years ago’
    (Taylor & Francis, 2018-04-26) Clarkson, C; Roberts, RG; Jacobs, Z; Marwick, B; Fullagar, R; Arnold, LJ; Hua, Q
    We thank the authors for their comments in the previous issue of Australian Archaeology. The 2012– 2015 research at Madjedbebe offers a new and comprehensive look at the early occupation of Sahul and adds substantially to our knowledge of the timing of that event and the behaviour of the first people to enter the region. Establishing occupation of northern Australia by 65 ± 6 thousand years ago (ka, with the uncertainty expressed at 95.4% probability) pushes human presence in the Top End back beyond the earliest ages so far reported for other Australian sites by c. 5,000–15,000 years (Roberts et al. 1994; Hamm et al. 2016; Veth et al. 2017), thus raising interesting questions as to the latitudinal extent of continental occupation prior to 50 ka. © 2018 Australian Archaeological Association
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    Using stable isotope analysis of archaeological pandanus nutshell to understand past rainfall at Madjedbebe, northern Australia
    (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, 2021-11-17) Florin, A; Roberts, P; Marwick, B; Patton, NR; Schilmeister, J; Lovelock, CE; Barry, LA; Hua, Q; Nango, M; Djandjomerr, D; Fullagar, R; Wallis, LA; Faibairn, AS; Clarkson, C
    Archaeological research provides a long-term perspective on how humans live with various environmental conditions over tens of thousands of years. However, to do this, archaeologists rely on the existence of local and temporally comparable environmental proxies, which are often not available. Our research at Madjedbebe, a ~65,000-year-old archaeological site on Mirarr country in northern Australia, developed an on-site proxy for past rainfall from pandanus nutshell, a remnant of ancient meals eaten at the site. This talk will discuss how we can use ancient food scraps, such as pandanus nutshell, to document past rainfall and what the results of this research mean for communities living at Madjedbebe in the past.