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Marara (carved trees, dendroglyphs or tapholgyphs) are a distinct part of Wiradjuri Country in southeastern Australia. Each marara displays a unique muyalaang (tree carving) that a Wiradjuri person carved into the outer surface of a tree after removing bark. Marara mark the dhabuganha (burials) of Wiradjuri men of high standing, representing part of traditional cultural practices that extend into the deep past. Yet, the meaning of these sacred locations is not widely understood due to the lack of Wiradjuri teaching, knowledge and participation in previous studies. Here we present the first Wiradjuri-led archaeological study of marara, muyalaang and dhabuganha, completed in the Central Tablelands. We combine a review of previous studies with new information from interviews with Wiradjuri Elders and knowledge holders, Ground Penetrating Radar survey, and 3D modelling (photogrammetry) – guided by the Wiradjuri philosophy Yindyamarra (cultural respect). The results build new, culturally and scientifically informed understandings of practical and symbolic aspects of Wiradjuri culture, with marara and dhabuganha viewed not as individual objects or 'sites' but as connected parts of Wiradjuri Lore, beliefs, traditional cultural practices and Country. Consistent with Wiradjuri Elder requests, this paper is freely available and written in simple language for the Wiradjuri community and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists have long grappled with identifying quartz artefacts in the archaeological record. The particular fracture mechanics of quartz can complicate the distinction between knapped quartz, other types of deliberately broken quartz, and natural occurrences of this mineral. In Australia, the quartz 'problem' is compounded on goldfields, where quartz debris from knapping, gold mining and other processes has the potential to co-occur. This paper investigates whether quartz assemblages produced by Aboriginal knappers and post-contact gold prospectors each possess a unique 'signature'. It compares two quartz assemblages made experimentally using different but commonly used techniques with potential for creating artefacts with similar features: knapping with a hammerstone, and gold prospecting with a pick-axe. The results indicate that most artefacts in each assemblage are amorphous and lack diagnostic markers. Nonetheless, differences between the products of each technique are apparent at the assemblage level. Overall, the results highlight the complexities involved in investigating and classifying quartz artefacts, including on goldfields, and emphasise the importance of a holistic, assemblage-based approach to the study of quartz artefacts from different time periods and manufacturing origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait readers of this article are warned that it may contain images of ancestral remains. Compiling a history of archaeology is critical for evaluating, understanding and contextualising the current state of the discipline. While oral histories provide vivid accounts of people, events and decisions from sources with direct relationships to these moments in time, they have played a limited role in building historical narratives of archaeology as a discipline. A moderated conversation between Emeritus Professors David Frankel and Jim Allen and Professor Susan Lawrence on the early and more recent history of archaeology at La Trobe University, Melbourne, held during the university's 50th anniversary celebrations in 2017, provides a glimpse of the discipline's past, present and future in Australia. This paper presents the key themes and topics from this conversation with accompanying excerpts, providing an important case study of how oral history can assist with archiving this discipline. Warning Aboriginal and Torres Strait readers of this article are warned that it may contain images of ancestral remains. Compiling a history of archaeology is critical for evaluating the current state of the discipline. While oral histories provide valuable accounts of important people, events and decisions through time, they have played a limited role in historical narratives of the discipline. This paper provides an important case study of how oral histories can assist with archiving this discipline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aboriginal culturally modified trees are a distinctive feature of the Australian archaeological record, generating insights into Aboriginal interactions with wood and bark, which rarely survive in archaeological contexts. However, they are under-studied, in decline and typically presumed to pre-date the 20th century. Here we investigate the origin of a scar with a stone tool embedded in the scar overgrowth, located in the Central Tablelands, New South Wales, on Wiradjuri Country. We consider three datasets for this purpose: the tree and scar features; macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the embedded stone; and chronology and age of the tree and scar. The origin of the scar and its relationship with the stone tool are unclear. However, the results, together with documentary and oral evidence, suggest that Aboriginal people quarried the stone and probably used it as a wedge to lever bark from the tree, or to make a sign. The results provide a rare glimpse into the continuation of Aboriginal cultural practices and knowledge transmission in the second half of the 20th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a conversation between Rebecca Dobbs, producer of film director Stuart Marshall for his television programs from 1987 to 1994 through her production company, Maya Vision, and Carolyn Spry, commissioning editor at Chanel 4 in the Independent Film and Video Department (IFVD). Spry and Dobbs discuss how they met Marshall, how to understand Stuart's relationship to television in the 1980s and 1990s, and a background on IFVD.

The Willandra Lakes in semi-arid southeastern Australia provide some of the most continuous combined palaeoenvironmental and archaeological records on the continent. These are best preserved within the transverse shoreline (lunette) dunes on their downwind margins. Following final lake retreat c. 15 ka avulsion of the dominant fluvial inflow eastwards, the Willandra lunettes periodically reactivated, experiencing erosion, aeolian redeposition and alluvial sheetwash. These reworked sedimentary archives reflect regional climatic conditions rather than those of the entire catchment. Yet the focus of most study in the region to date has remained on the late Pleistocene. The general paucity of Holocene data has contributed to a perception that people largely abandoned the area in favour of the perennial Murray and Darling Rivers to the south and west. Our study reconstructs past geomorphological conditions and patterns of human mobility in adjacent Lakes Mungo and Durthong over the last c. 15 ka subsequent to final lake retreat, including the most recent 150 years since Europeans established pastoralism in the region. Our data show that Indigenous people did not abandon the area as previously assumed, but developed effective strategies for responding to the changed environmental conditions. Final lake retreat transitioned into a phase of aeolian accumulation c. 15–12 ka, indicating locally dry conditions. Subsequent aeolian reactivation peaked during arid phases experiencing less rainfall in the early Holocene and twice in the most recent 1000 years prior to European settlement in the area. Alluvial sheetwash was deposited onto lake floors during the mid-Holocene, and again in the early decades of European settlement. Aeolian reactivation, likely driven by European pastoral activities, increases in the most recent 150 years. Our study underscores the necessity of integrating geomorphological and archaeological investigations over landscape scales in order to optimise our understanding of interactions between people and their environment through time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An unusual, incised sandstone artefact recovered during an archaeological salvage program in Bannockburn, southwestern Victoria, has been uniformly ground and contains sets of regularly spaced, shallow grooves on either side. Microscopic study indicates that the grooves were incised with stone and used to sharpen or shape the edges of wooden implements. The wear outside the grooves indicates contact with soft wood or other plant material, possibly a soft plant bag. When compared with other examples that are similar, the regularity and distribution of the grooves suggest a symbolic meaning, perhaps tally marks or other form of communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]