VAL ATTENBROW THE ABORIGINAL PREHISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF ROYAL NATIONAL PARK AND ITS SURROUNDING LANDSCAPES September 2011

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1 THE ABORIGINAL PREHISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF ROYAL NATIONAL PARK AND ITS SURROUNDING LANDSCAPES VAL ATTENBROW September 2011 Linnean Society of New South Wales 2011 Symposium Royal National Park Natural History of the First National Park

2 A Family of New South Wales from a sketch attributed to Governor King. In Hunter New Holland Baskets, Weapons and Fishing Gear, by CA Lesueur (artist), In Peron & Freycinet 1824, Plate 30. New Holland: New South Wales. Caves, hunting and fishing by the people of Port Jackson, by CA Lesueur (artist), HISTORICAL OBSERVATIONS REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM RESEARCH LIBRARY

3 Curracurrang Rockshelter with shell midden. Photograph Val Attenbrow ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN ROYAL NATIONAL PARK North Era Midden shells and hearth stones. Photograph Val Attenbrow Red fish in rockshelter. Photograph Illawarra Prehistory Group 2007 Grinding grooves beside rock pool. Photograph Illawarra Prehistory Group 2007 Engraved anthropomorph at Jibbon. Photograph Val Attenbrow

4 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES DISTRIBUTION OF ABORIGINAL SITES IN THE SYDNEY REGION, 2002 Royal National Park Map produced by Val Attenbrow with Neville Baker and Gavin Martin, AMBS

5 DISTRIBUTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES WITH COASTAL AND ESTUARINE SHELL IN EASTERN CATCHMENT OF SOUTHWEST ARM, RNP FIGURE 16 FROM 2008 REPORT BY ILLAWARRA PREHISTORY GROUP

6 CURRACURRANG 1

7 MODIFIED NERITA ATRAMENTOSA SHELLS NECKLACE OR SISTRUM Modified Nerita atramentosa shell. (a & b) Bundeena Beach excavations (WR Harper 1899; Aust.Mus. Reg. No E.08582). and (c) Bundeena UC Midden (Paul Irish 2007: Figure 2). Microscopically analysed Nerita atramentosa shells from Cooks Stream, Kurnell (From L-R: P6/180-N1, D6-N1, D8-N1 & D8-N2). (Irish 2009 Figure 4.30). No scale Nerita atramentosa shells from Little Bay (Farquharson & Brown 2010) Engraving interpreted as shell rattle or sistrum with two shields at Allambie Heights (Campbell 1899, Plate 12)

8 1960s EXCAVATIONS CURRACURRANG 1 Curracurrang 1. Rock shelter from north east showing trenches excavated in the 1960s (Photograph by JVS Megaw, in documentation held at Australian Museum) Curracurrang 1, Cutting 10: north and west sections showing three main occupation levels (Photograph by JVS Megaw, in documentation held at Australian Museum)

9 Little Bay RADIOMETRICALLY DATED EXCAVATED SITES IN ROYAL NATIONAL PARK & SOUTH SYDNEY (and other places mentioned; green dots are undated sites)

10 No of radiometric ages RNP & SS NO OF RADIOMATRIC AGES IN EACH MILLENNIUM (N=57, EX 4 'MODERN' AND 1 DOUBTFUL) ROYAL NATIONAL PARK & SOUTH SYDNEY: RADIOMETRIC AGES Graph 1 Millennium cal BP No of habitation sites RNP & SS NO OF HABITATION SITES ESTABLISHED IN EACH MILLENNIUM (based on earliest ages N=25 sites) No of habitations occuppied RBP & SS NO OF HABITATIONS OCCUPIED IN EACH MILLENNIUM (assuming continual occupation, and excluding short-term events. N=25 sites, 57 ages) Graph 2 Millennium cal BP Graph 3 Millennium cal BP

11 STONE TOOLS INDICATE CHANGE OVER TIME e.g. BACKED ARTEFACTS Backed artefacts. : appear in SE Australia ~8500 BP; proliferate ~3500 BP; disappear or decline (regionally variable) ~1500 BP. Photographs Carl Bento, Australian Museum. Scale bar 1 cm.

12 STONE TOOLS INDICATE MOVEMENT OF GOODS AND/OR PEOPLE e.g. GROUND-EDGED IMPLEMENTS Manly hatchet indicates hafting method; most archaeological specimens are found unhafted. Earliest ground-edged tools are ~3500 BP; Increase in numbers occurs ~1500 BP.

13 SHELL FISH-HOOKS & STONE FILES Shell fishhooks and stone files first appear in coastal shell middens years ago. In NSW, they are only found between Port Macquarie in the north and the NSW- Victorian border in the south. From turban shell to shell fishhook. Archaeological specimens from Captain Cooks Landing Place (BB4) and Bass Point (BP). All photographs by Paul Ovenden, Australian Museum Stone files from Boat Harbour (AM Reg No E ); North Head (E ); Curracurrang 2; Quibray Bay (E.39230) Shell fish-hooks from Aboriginal shell middens around Port Jackson (North Head and Woolwich) and Botany Bay (La Perouse, Kurnell).

14 REFERENCES Attenbrow, V. (2010) Aboriginal fishing on Port Jackson, and the introduction of shell fish-hooks to coastal New South Wales, Australia. In. P. Hutching, D. Lunney and D. Hochuli (eds), The Natural History of Sydney, pp Mosman, NSW: Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales. Attenbrow, V.J. (2010) Sydney s Aboriginal Past. Investigating the Archaeological and Historical Records. (2 nd edition). Sydney: UNSW Press. Attenbrow, V., G. Robertson & P. Hiscock. (2009) The changing abundance of backed artefacts in south-eastern Australia: a response to Holocene climate change? Journal of Archaeological Science 36: doi: /j.jas Campbell, WD (1899) Aboriginal Carvings of Port Jackson and Broken Bay. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of NSW. Ethnological Series No 1. NSW Geological Survey, Sydney. Farquharson. L & Brown, O. (Godden Mackay Logan) (2009) From Little Things: Management and Archaeological Investigation at the Little Bay Midden, NSW. Paper presented at Australian Archaeological Association Annual Conference, Batemans Bay, 6 December Illawarra Prehistory Group (2008) Archaeological Survey of the Eastern Catchment of Southwest Arm to Coast Heights Spur, Royal National Park. (unpublished report) Irish, P. (2007) Bundeena bling? Possible Aboriginal shell adornments from southern Sydney. Australian Archaeology 64: Irish, P. (2009) Final Report on Aboriginal Archaeological Monitoring and Salvage Excavation. Meeting Place Precinct, Botany Bay National Park, Kurnell, NSW. Report to Design Landscapes Pty Ltd and DECC. Megaw, JVS (1965) Excavations in the Royal National Park, New South Wales: A first series of radiocarbon dates from the Sydney district. Oceania 35(3): Megaw, J.V.S. (1967b) Radiocarbon dates from Curracurrang Cove, NSW. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies Newsletter 2(5): Megaw, J.V.S. (1968a) A dated culture sequence for the south Sydney region of New South Wales. Current Anthropology 9(4): Megaw, J.V.S. (ed.) The Recent Archaeology of the Sydney District. Excavations Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.

15 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would also like to acknowledge and thank the many people who supported my research in many different ways in funding, access to properties, and assistance in fieldwork and analysis of excavated materials. I have not named anyone specifically as they are now too many to list, but they include people from: Aboriginal communities and land councils, several local government councils, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies, the Australian Museum, the Australian Heritage Commission, the National Parks & Wildlife Service, Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water, Office of Environment &Heritage as well as the many volunteers who have included university and school students, as well as local residents and private land-owners, and other archaeologists. Illawarra Prehistory Group for photographs