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  • Aboriginal serrated and perforated shell artefacts from the Murray River, South Australia

    Author(s)
    ROBERTS, AMY
    WESTELL, CRAIG
    WILSON, CHRISTOPHER
    LANGLEY, MICHELLE C
    MALLEE ABORIGINAL CORPORATION, RIVER MURRAY AND
    CORPORATION, NGARRINDJERI ABORIGINAL
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Langley, Michelle C.
    Year published
    2021
    Metadata
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    Abstract
    This article describes three freshwater mussel shell artefacts recently documented for the Murray River in South Australia. These finds more than double the known examples of such artefacts from this region. Two of the modified shells are perforated, with the other serrated. The finely serrated item is a rare artefact and we have not located any similar published examples in Australia, although international correlates exist. The function/s and cultural significance of the objects are also considered in this paper. Hypotheses for the perforated finds include ornamentation, tool stringing and fibre scraping. Ornamentation, ...
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    This article describes three freshwater mussel shell artefacts recently documented for the Murray River in South Australia. These finds more than double the known examples of such artefacts from this region. Two of the modified shells are perforated, with the other serrated. The finely serrated item is a rare artefact and we have not located any similar published examples in Australia, although international correlates exist. The function/s and cultural significance of the objects are also considered in this paper. Hypotheses for the perforated finds include ornamentation, tool stringing and fibre scraping. Ornamentation, idle tinkering and food utensil use are considered as possible intended functions for the serrated artefact. Given the age range of the objects reported here (c. 6181–517 cal BP), together with other finds in the Murray Darling Basin, we tentatively suggest that shells have been a material resource used continually in this region for a range of purposes. However, as argued by other researchers, we concur that there has probably been infrequent identification and reporting of such shell artefacts. This is considered particularly likely given that our finds were recovered from relatively small scale excavation/coring and surface sampling efforts. As such, this paper attempts to raise awareness of this form of material culture in archaeological sequences.
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    Journal Title
    Archaeology in Oceania
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.5250
    Note
    This publication has been entered in Griffith Research Online as an advanced online version.
    Subject
    Archaeology
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/408128
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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    • Gold Coast
    • Logan
    • Brisbane - Queensland, Australia
    First Peoples of Australia
    • Aboriginal
    • Torres Strait Islander