Radiocarbon dates for coastal midden sites at Long Point in the Coorong, South Australia

Abstract

This paper presents 29 radiocarbon dates from eight surface concentrations of shell and 10 test-pits across four shell middens at Long Point in the Coorong, South Australia. Results indicate that occupation of these sites was confined to the late Holocene period, post-2500 cal. BP. With the exception of one midden, which appears not to have been used after 500-300 cal. BP, all other sites suggest continued use until the recent past. This pattern fits with a proposed period of population expansion and intensification of resource use inthe Coorong, along with more general changes known to have occurred in parts of coastal Australia during the mid- to late Holocene.