65,000 years of changing plant food and landscape use at Madjedbebe, Mirarr country, northern Australia
View / Open Files
Authors
Fairbairn, AS
Nango, M
Djandjomerr, D
Reutens, DC
Wallis, LA
Clarkson, C
Publication Date
2022Journal Title
Quaternary Science Reviews
ISSN
0277-3791
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Florin, S., Fairbairn, A., Nango, M., Djandjomerr, D., Hua, Q., Marwick, B., Reutens, D., et al. (2022). 65,000 years of changing plant food and landscape use at Madjedbebe, Mirarr country, northern Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107498
Abstract
The plant macrofossil assemblage from Madjedbebe, Mirarr Country, northern Australia, provides insight into human-plant relationships for the ~ 65,000 years of Aboriginal occupation at the site. Here we show that a diverse diet of fruits, nuts, seeds, palm and underground storage organs was consumed from the earliest occupation, with intensive plant food processing in evidence. The diet varied through time as foraging strategies were altered in response to changes in environment and demography. This included a broadening of the diet during drier glacial stages, as well as changes in the seasonal round and incorporation of new foods with the formation of freshwater wetlands following sea level rise in the late Holocene. The foundations of the economy evidenced at Madjedbebe include seasonal mobility, a broad diet and requisite plant processing and grinding technologies, all of which are maintained throughout the entire timespan of occupation. This points to a resilient economic system in the face of pronounced environmental, and likely demographic, change.
Sponsorship
Wenner Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grant (9260); Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering Postgraduate Research Award (11877); Dan David Scholarship; Australian Research Council Research Training Program scholarship; Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage Irinjili Research Training Program Internship for Women; Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP110102864)
Embargo Lift Date
2023-04-26
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2022.107498
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/335491
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Statistics
Total file downloads (since January 2020). For more information on metrics see the
IRUS guide.