Legacy archaeology: Aboriginal subsistence response to Holocene environmental changes using faunal evidence from archaeological sites on the Lower Murray, South Australia

Abstract

Ngaut Ngaut (Devon Downs) and Tungawa (Fromm’s Landing) 2 and 6 are located in the Gorge Section of the Lower Murray River. They were excavated more than 60 years ago. Unusually, they preserved fauna over the 6000 or 7000 years of occupation. Assessing this record, it is concluded that Aboriginal agents were responsible for the middens in these rockshelters. Following this, Ngaut Ngaut and the Tungawa sites are compared in terms of their dating, stratigraphy and changes in the fauna through time. While the majority of species are present throughout at all three sites, there are shifts in the number of animals in concert with Holocene environmental changes. After 3000 BP, the trend is to increased attention being given to resources from the riparian and river zones and away from the dryland Murray Plains. An increase in shellfish and the presence of crayfish gastroliths support this contention. Nearby Tartanga Island provides a record of Holocene sedimentary changes in the Murray River associated with altered sea level and flood regimes, particularly the deposition of the Monoman and Coonambidgal formations. The latter creating a landscape of highly productive swamps and backwaters. The information from these legacy excavations supports the conclusion that a shift in the locus of Aboriginal hunting and gathering activities accompanied mid- and late-Holocene environmental changes on the Lower Murray River.