Conference Poster by Rebecca Foote
Despite considerable research work in the 1970s and 1990s, zooarchaeological sites in southwester... more Despite considerable research work in the 1970s and 1990s, zooarchaeological sites in southwestern Australia are under-utilised as sources of information about past Aboriginal land management. Niche Construction Theory (NCT) suggests that anthropogenic change in animal habitat can be identified from zooarchaeological records. Excavations in 2013 at Wonitji Janga, a late Holocene limestone rockshelter site, and a nearby unnamed sink-hole, near Yallingup, southwestern Australia, reveal changes in species representation from 500 BP to the early-to-mid-twentieth century. The most marked changes are among species that require the most intensive effort to manage or capture. This evidence suggests that as their ability to manage some animal species using traditional methods became restricted by British settlement, Wardandi Noongar people exploited alternative resources requiring less intensive foraging and management techniques. It also suggests NCT will be a useful paradigm for assessing pre-European Noongar land management elsewhere in the region.
Dortch, J., W. Webb, T. Webb, R. Foote, S. Henderson, C. Monks and T. Busher 2014 Demonstrating niche construction through zooarchaeology in South Western Australia. Poster presented at the AAA/ASHA Annual Conference, 1-3 December, Cairns.
Conference presentation by Rebecca Foote
Through a systematic recording of graffiti in a number of inner city and suburban locations over ... more Through a systematic recording of graffiti in a number of inner city and suburban locations over more than a year we have tracked the changing face of graffiti, the creators and the ways in which they have marked the urban landscape. Using an informed and formal approach, based on those used to study Indigenous rock art, we provide an inside view of how graffiti has been used to mark place, express identity and as a stepping stone for artistic recognition in Perth. This study prepares the way for further, more focussed and detailed studies of specific areas and what it may tell us about questions on the ‘moral’ temperature of an area, and the changing demographic of the graffiti practitioner.
“Underbelly Exposed! Archaeological approaches to studying graffiti, people and places in contemporary Perth” (By Jane Fyfe, Rebecca Foote & Liam Phillips)
Media by Rebecca Foote
Urban architecture has become hostile architecture. At least it is for Western Australia’s approx... more Urban architecture has become hostile architecture. At least it is for Western Australia’s approximately 14,000 homeless people, about 8,000 of whom live in Perth’s CBD. An insidious implementation of ‘defensive’ architectural and related measures such as move-on ordinances and regulation of soup kitchen locales - have made the streets hard to live on. ‘Homelessness’ is often a misnomer. Many ‘streeties’ have made the streets home though long-term, networked relationships, practical interventions, and creative subversions. Alleyways, parks, and interstitial spaces have been used – and mostly tolerated - by property owners and authorities. But over the last 5 years these spaces have been closed up literally and through ‘anti-social behaviour’ laws. Streeties, who practice a highly social way of life, have contested this closure, but their struggle has elicited a disturbing lack of empathy from non-streeties.
Archaeologists, architects and anthropologists are able to recognise, analyse, and propose alternatives to this wilful ignorance of an enduring social issue. Our 2015 spatial survey of four sites in Perth’s CBD and penumbra ‘saw’ traces of homelessness through examining official efforts to eradicate, hide, or move on what property owners consider an ‘unsightly’ streetie society. We are not concerned with the archaeology of homelessness but with the architectural and related responses to it - such as barriers, benches designed not to be slept on, sprinklers, alarms, manipulation of landscaping, and hindering access to water and ablutions. Interestingly, within authority regimes there is some tolerance - and even enabling - of street living.
Homelessness costs Perth at least $75 million per annum – and hostile architecture adds to this cost absolutely and socially. We propose a recognition of ‘streeties’ as legitimate, long-term dwellers and title-holders of the city’s spaces-in-common. We also recognise the street as a legitimate dwelling space. This approach may help re-humanise hostile architecture.
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Conference Poster by Rebecca Foote
Dortch, J., W. Webb, T. Webb, R. Foote, S. Henderson, C. Monks and T. Busher 2014 Demonstrating niche construction through zooarchaeology in South Western Australia. Poster presented at the AAA/ASHA Annual Conference, 1-3 December, Cairns.
Conference presentation by Rebecca Foote
“Underbelly Exposed! Archaeological approaches to studying graffiti, people and places in contemporary Perth” (By Jane Fyfe, Rebecca Foote & Liam Phillips)
Media by Rebecca Foote
Archaeologists, architects and anthropologists are able to recognise, analyse, and propose alternatives to this wilful ignorance of an enduring social issue. Our 2015 spatial survey of four sites in Perth’s CBD and penumbra ‘saw’ traces of homelessness through examining official efforts to eradicate, hide, or move on what property owners consider an ‘unsightly’ streetie society. We are not concerned with the archaeology of homelessness but with the architectural and related responses to it - such as barriers, benches designed not to be slept on, sprinklers, alarms, manipulation of landscaping, and hindering access to water and ablutions. Interestingly, within authority regimes there is some tolerance - and even enabling - of street living.
Homelessness costs Perth at least $75 million per annum – and hostile architecture adds to this cost absolutely and socially. We propose a recognition of ‘streeties’ as legitimate, long-term dwellers and title-holders of the city’s spaces-in-common. We also recognise the street as a legitimate dwelling space. This approach may help re-humanise hostile architecture.
Dortch, J., W. Webb, T. Webb, R. Foote, S. Henderson, C. Monks and T. Busher 2014 Demonstrating niche construction through zooarchaeology in South Western Australia. Poster presented at the AAA/ASHA Annual Conference, 1-3 December, Cairns.
“Underbelly Exposed! Archaeological approaches to studying graffiti, people and places in contemporary Perth” (By Jane Fyfe, Rebecca Foote & Liam Phillips)
Archaeologists, architects and anthropologists are able to recognise, analyse, and propose alternatives to this wilful ignorance of an enduring social issue. Our 2015 spatial survey of four sites in Perth’s CBD and penumbra ‘saw’ traces of homelessness through examining official efforts to eradicate, hide, or move on what property owners consider an ‘unsightly’ streetie society. We are not concerned with the archaeology of homelessness but with the architectural and related responses to it - such as barriers, benches designed not to be slept on, sprinklers, alarms, manipulation of landscaping, and hindering access to water and ablutions. Interestingly, within authority regimes there is some tolerance - and even enabling - of street living.
Homelessness costs Perth at least $75 million per annum – and hostile architecture adds to this cost absolutely and socially. We propose a recognition of ‘streeties’ as legitimate, long-term dwellers and title-holders of the city’s spaces-in-common. We also recognise the street as a legitimate dwelling space. This approach may help re-humanise hostile architecture.