Carly Monks

This study presents the first data on a level one archaeology student cohort, exploring their demographic composition and motivations for enrolling, as well as external stressors such as health and caring responsibilities that may influence student study goals, retention, and needs. A survey of 107 students enrolled in introductory level archaeology units at 13 Australian universities was undertaken in Semester 1, 2021. The results show a diverse cohort by age, gender, and educational background. Consistent with the professional Australian archaeological community, there is little diversity in the ethnicity of enrolled students. Further, many respondents reported having caring responsibilities, and both physical and mental health concerns. Students were motivated to enrol both for general interest and future career pathways; however, there was a poor understanding within the cohort of Australian archaeological job opportunities. These results indicate that there is clearly much to be done in public archaeological engagement and outreach in Australia. What is required of the Australian archaeological community is a concerted effort to improve how the discipline is taught and learned across all levels of education, and a collaborative approach to designing teaching methods suitable for our modern student cohort.

ABSTRACT Niche construction theory concerns the modification of environments by all organisms, and gives a new perspective on zooarchaeological records in southwest Australia. Aboriginal people in this region historically used fire to improve habitat and hunt animals, suggesting pre-European traditions of environmental management. Analysis of a new faunal record from the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Region, at the Wonitji Janga rockshelter, suggests post-European changes in Aboriginal hunting are the result of changed firing regimes or restrictions on traditional management techniques. These preliminary findings suggest that similar research planned for the Swan Coastal Plain, coupled with advances in ancient DNA analysis, will demonstrate past landscape modification.

This paper presents the results of investigations of two newly recorded sites: the Oakajee midden north of Geraldton,
and the North Head midden near Jurien Bay, both in Western Australia (WA). The Oakajee midden is situated in
a dune complex containing open artefact concentrations and other archaeological sites. The North Head midden is
eroding from a shallow dune atop a limestone cliff overlooking a wavecut rock platform. These middens contribute
to the sparse data on mid- to late Holocene marine resource exploitation along the WA coastline. The results of
radiocarbon analyses show that midden deposition ceased ca 3000 cal. BP. We suggest that this change reflects a
decline in littoral resource exploitation following the stabilisation of Holocene sea levels, when environmental and
geomorphological conditions altered the availability and accessibility of estuarine and littoral molluscs.

Niche construction theory concerns the modification of environments by all organisms, and gives a new perspective on zooarchaeological records in southwest Australia. Aboriginal people in this region historically used fire to improve habitat and hunt animals, suggesting pre-European traditions of environmental management. Analysis of a new faunal record from the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Region, at the Wonitji Janga rockshelter, suggests post-European changes in Aboriginal hunting are the result of changed firing regimes or restrictions on traditional management techniques. These preliminary findings suggest that similar research planned for the Swan Coastal Plain, coupled with advances in ancient DNA analysis, will demonstrate past landscape modification.

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.