Sediment mixing at Nonda Rock: Investigations of stratigraphic integrity at an early archaeological site in northern Australia and implications for the human colonisation of the continent

Journal of Quaternary Science

Volumn 22, Issue 5, 2007, Pages 449-479

  David, Bruno ^a   Roberts, Richard G ^b   Magee, John ^c   Mialanes, Jerome ^d   Turney, Chris ^b   Bird, Michael ^e   White, Chris ^a   Fifiels, L Keith ^c   Tibby, John ^f  

^a MONASH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG   (Australia)

^c AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^d UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE   (Australia)

^e UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS   (United Kingdom)

^f UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE   (Australia)

Author keywords

Australian archaeology; Early occupation sites; Human colonisation; North Queensland; Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL); Pleistocene archaeology; Radiocarbon dating; Sediment mixing; Single grain dating

Indexed keywords

ARCHAEOLOGY; COLONIZATION; HUMAN SETTLEMENT; INDIGENOUS POPULATION; LUMINESCENCE DATING; PLEISTOCENE; RADIOCARBON DATING;

AUSTRALASIA; AUSTRALIA; NONDA ROCK; QUEENSLAND;

EID: 34250882681     PISSN: 02678179     EISSN: 10991417     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/jqs.1136     Document Type: Article

References (87)

1. Adamiec G, Aitken M. 1998. Dose-rate conversion factors: update. Ancient TL 16: 37-50.
2. Aitken MJ. 1985. Thermoluminescence Dating. Academic Press: London.
3. Aitken MJ. 1998. An Introduction to Optical Dating. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
4. Allen J, O'Connell JF. 2003. The long and the short of it: archaeological approaches to determining when humans first colonised Australia and New Guinea. Australian Archaeology 57: 5-19.
5. Anderson A, Roberts R, Dickinson W, Clark G, Burley D, de Biran A, Hope G, Nunn P. 2006. Times of sand: sedimentary history and archaeology at the Sigatoka Dunes, Fiji. Geoarchaeology 21: 131-154.
6. Arnold LJ, Bailey RM, Tucker GE. 2007. Statistical treatment of fluvial dose distributions from southern Colorado arroyo deposits. Quaternary Geochronology 2: 162-167.
7. Balme J. 2000. Excavations revealing 40,000 years of occupation at Mimbi Caves in south central Kimberley of Western Australia. Australian Archaeology, 51: 1-5.
8. Bateman MD, Boulter CH, Carr AS, Frederick CD, Peter D, Wilder M. 2007. Detecting post-depositional sediment disturbance in sandy deposits using optical luminescence. Quaternary Geochronology 2: 57-64.
9. Bird MI, Ayliffe LK, Fifield LK, Turney CSM, Cresswell RG, Barrows TT, David B. 1999. Radiocarbon dating of 'old' charcoal using a wet oxidation, stepped-combustion procedure. Radiocarbon 41: 127-140.
10. Bird MI, Turney CSM, Fifield LK, Jones R, Ayliffe LK, Palmer A, Cresswell RG, Robertson S. 2002. Radiocarbon analysis of the early archaeological site of Nauwalabila I, Arnhem Land, Australia: implications for sample suitability and stratigraphic integrity. Quaternary Science Reviews 21: 1061-1075.
11. Bowdler S. 1991. Some sort of dates at Malakunanja II: a reply to Roberts et al. Australian Archaeology 32: 50-51.
12. Bowler J, Magee J. 2000. Redating Australia's oldest human remains: a skeptic's view. Journal of Human Evolution 38: 719-726.
13. Bowler J, Johnston H, Olley JM, Prescott JR, Roberts RG, Shawcross W, Spooner NA. 2003. New ages for human occupation and climatic change at Lake Mungo, Australia. Nature 421: 837-840.
14. Brook BW, Bowman DMJS, Burney DA, Flannery TF, Gagan MK, Gillespie R, Johnson CN, Kershaw P, Magee JW, Martin PS, Miller GH, Peiser B, Roberts RG. 2007. Would the Australian megafauna have become extinct if humans had never colonised the continent? Quaternary Science Reviews 26: 560-564.
15. Bultitude RJ. 1998. Geology. In Ngarrabullgan: Geographical Investigations in Djungan Country, Cape York Peninsula, David B (ed.). Monash Publications in Geography and Environmental Science 51, Monash University: Melbourne; 27-54.
16. Bulur E. 1996. An alternative technique for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) experiment. Radiation Measurements 26: 701-709.
17. Butler D. 1998. Environmental change in the Quaternary. In Ngarrabullgan: Geographical Investigations in Djungan Country, Cape York Peninsula, David B (ed.). Monash Publications in Geography and Environmental Science 51, Monash University: Melbourne; 78-91.
18. Cosgrove R. 2007. Global expansion 300,000-8000 years ago, Australia. In Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science, Elias SA (ed.). Elsevier: Oxford; 118-129.
19. Chappell J. 2002. Sea level changes forced ice breakouts in the Last Glacial cycle: new results from coral terraces. Quaternary Science Reviews 21: 1229-1240.
20. Chappell J, Omura A, Esat T, McCulloch M, Pandolfi J, Ota Y, Pillans B. 1996. Reconciliation of late Quaternary sea levels derived from coral terraces at Huon Peninsula with deep sea oxygen isotope records. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 141: 227-236.
21. David B. 2002. Landscapes, Rock-art and the Dreaming. Leicester University Press: London.
22. David B, Wilson M. 1999. Re-reading the landscape: place and identity in NE Australia during the late Holocene. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 9: 163-188.
23. David B, Roberts R, Tuniz C, Jones R, Head J. 1997. New optical and radiocarbon dates from Ngarrabullgan Cave, a Pleistocene archaeological site in Australia: implications for the comparability of time clocks and for the human colonization of Australia. Antiquity 71: 183-188.
24. David B, McNiven I, Bekessy L, Bultitude R, Clarkson C, Lawson E, Murray C, Tuniz C. 1998. More than 37,000 years of human occupation. In Ngarrabullgan: Geographical Investigations in Djungan Country, Cape York Peninsula, David B (ed.). Monash Publications in Geography and Environmental Science 51, Monash University: Melbourne; 157-178.
25. Feathers JK. 2003. Use of luminescence dating in archaeology. Measurement Science and Technology 14: 1493-1509.
26. Feathers JK, Rhodes EJ, Huot S, McAvoy JM. 2006a. Luminescence dating of sand deposits related to late Pleistocene human occupation at the Cactus Hill site, Virginia, USA. Quaternary Geochronology 1: 167-187.
27. Feathers JK, Holliday VT, Meltzer DJ. 2006b. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of Southern High Plains archaeological sites. Journal of Archaeological Science 33: 1651-1665.
28. Fullagar RLK, Price DM, Head LM. 1996. Early human occupation of northern Australia: archaeology and thermoluminescence dating of Jinmium rockshelter, northern Australia. Antiquity 70: 751-773.
29. Galbraith RF. 2005. Statistics for Fission Track Analysis. Chapman & Hall/CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL.
30. Galbraith RF, Green PF. 1990. Estimating the component ages in a finite mixture. Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements 17: 197-206.
31. Galbraith RF, Roberts RG, Laslett GM, Yoshida H, Olley JM. 1999. Optical dating of single and multiple grains of quartz from Jinmium rock shelter, northern Australia: Part I, Experimental design and statistical models. Archaeometry 41: 339-364.
32. Galbraith RF, Roberts RG, Yoshida H. 2005. Error variation in OSL palaeodose estimates from single aliquots of quartz: a factorial experiment. Radiation Measurements 39: 289-307.
33. Gillespie R. 2002. Dating the first Australians. Radiocarbon 44: 455-472.
34. Gillespie R, Roberts RG. 2000. On the reliability of age estimates for human remains at Lake Mungo. Journal of Human Evolution 38: 727-732.
35. Gillespie R, Brook BW, Baynes A. 2006. Short overlap of humans and megafauna in Pleistocene Australia. Alcheringa Special Issue 1: 163-186.
36. Groube L, Chappell J, Muke J, Price D. 1986. A 40,000 year-old human occupation site at Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea. Nature 324: 453-455.
37. Grün R, Spooner NA, Thorne A, Mortimer G, Simpson JJ, McCullough MT, Taylor L, Curnoe D. 2000. Age of the Lake Mungo 3 skeleton: a reply to Bowler and Magee and to Gillespie and Roberts. Journal of Human Evolution 38: 733-741.
38. Hall L, Whittier J, Schulz M, Macrokanis C. 1998. Up on a rock: mammals and birds. In Ngarrabullgan: Geographical Investigations in Djungan Country, Cape York Peninsula, David B (ed.). Monash Publications in Geography and Environmental Science 51, Monash University: Melbourne; 130-142.
39. Hiscock P. 1985. The need for a taphonomic perspective in stone artefact analysis. Queensland Archaeological Research 2: 82-97.
40. Holden A. 1999. A technological analysis of the lithic assemblage from Hay Cave, SE Cape York Peninsula: considering diachronic variations in patterns of 'intensity of site use'. BA Honours thesis, The University of Queensland, St Lucia.
41. Hughen KA, Baillie MGL, Bard E, Beck JW, Bertrand CJH, Blackwell PG, Buck CE, Burr GS, Cutler KB, Damon PE, Edwards RL, Fairbanks RG, Friedrich M, Guilderson TP, Kromer B, McCormac FG, Manning S, Bronk Ramsey C, Reimer PJ, Reimer RW, Remmele S, Southon JR, Stuiver M, Talamo S, Taylor FW, Van der Plicht J, Weyhenmeyer CE. 2004. Marine04 radiocarbon age calibration, 0-26 cal kyr BP. Radio-carbon 46: 1059-1086.
42. Huntley DJ, Godfrey-Smith DI, Thewalt MLW. 1985. Optical dating of sediments. Nature 313: 105-107.
43. Jacobs Z, Wintle AG, Duller GAT. 2003a. Optical dating of dune sand from Blombos Cave, South Africa: I - Multiple grain data. Journal of Human Evolution 44: 599-612.
44. Jacobs Z, Duller GAT, Wintle AG. 2003b. Optical dating of dune sand from Blombos Cave, South Africa: II - Single grain data. Journal of Human Evolution 44: 613-625.
45. Jacobs Z, Duller GAT, Wintle AG, Henshilwood CS. 2006. Extending the chronology of deposits at Blombos Cave, South Africa, back to 140 ka using optical dating of single and multiple grains of quartz. Journal of Human Evolution 51: 255-273.
46. Jacobs Z, Wintle AG, Duller GAT, Roberts RG, Wadley L. 2007. New ages for the post-Howiesons Poort, late and final Middle Stone Age at Sibudu, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science (submitted).
47. Kershaw AP. 1986. Climatic change and Aboriginal burning in northeast Australia during the last two glacial/interglacial cycles. Nature 322: 47-49.
48. Lamb L. 1996. Investigating changing stone technologies, site use and occupational intensities at Fern Cave, north Queensland. Australian Archaeology 42: 1-7.
49. e estimates using the fast component and the medium component of quartz OSL. Radiation Measurements 41: 125-136.
50. Lian OB, Roberts RG. 2006. Dating the Quaternary: progress in luminescence dating of sediments. Quaternary Science Reviews 25: 2449-2468.
51. Mayya YS, Morthekai P, Murari MK, Singhvi AK. 2006. Towards quantifying beta microdosimetric effects in single-grain quartz dose distribution. Radiation Measurements 41: 1032-1039.
52. Mejdahl V. 1979. Thermoluminescence dating: beta-dose attenuation in quartz grains. Archaeometry 21: 61-72.
53. Mialanes J. 2005. 50,000 years of occupation at Ngarrabullgan (southeast Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland): the stone artefact technological evidence. PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, Melbourne.
54. Miller GH, Magee JW, Johnson BJ, Fogel ML, Spooner NA, McCulloch MT, Ayliffe LK. 1999. Pleistocene extinction of Genyornis newtoni: human impact on Australian megafauna. Science 283: 205-208.
55. Murray AS, Roberts RG. 1997. Determining the burial time of single grains of quartz using optically stimulated luminescence. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 152: 163-180.
56. Nathan RP, Thomas PJ, Jain M, Murray AS, Rhodes EJ. 2003. Environmental dose rate heterogeneity of beta radiation and its implications for luminescence dating: Monte Carlo modelling and experimental validation. Radiation Measurements 37: 305-313.
57. O'Connor S. 1995. Carpenter's Gap Rockshelter 1: 40,000 years of Aboriginal occupation in the Napier Ranges, Kimberley, WA. Australian Archaeology 40: 58-59.
58. Olley JM, Murray A, Roberts RG. 1996. The effects of disequilibria in the uranium and thorium decay chains on burial dose rates in fluvial sediments. Quaternary Science Reviews 15: 751-760.
59. Olley JM, Roberts RG, Murray AS. 1997. Disequilibria in the uranium decay series in sedimentary deposits at Allen's Cave, Nullarbor Plain, Australia: implications for dose rate determinations. Radiation Measurements 27: 433-443.
60. Olley JM, Caitcheon GG, Roberts RG. 1999. The origin of dose distributions in fluvial sediments, and the prospect of dating single grains from fluvial deposits using optically stimulated luminescence. Radiation Measurements 30: 207-217.
61. Olley JM, Pietsch T, Roberts RG. 2004a. Optical dating of Holocene sediments from a variety of geomorphic settings using single grains of quartz. Geomorphology 60: 337-358.
62. Olley JM, De Deckker P, Roberts RG, Fifield LK, Yoshida H, Hancock G. 2004b. Optical dating of deep-sea sediments using single grains of quartz: a comparison with radiocarbon. Sedimentary Geology 169: 175-189.
63. Olley JM, Roberts RG, Yoshida H, Bowler JM. 2006. Single-grain optical dating of grave-infill associated with human burials at Lake Mungo, Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 25: 2469-2474.
64. Pearce RH, Barbetti M. 1981. A 38,000 year-old archaeological site at Upper Swan, Western Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 16: 173-178.
65. Porat N, Rosen SA, Boaretto E, Avni Y. 2006. Dating the Ramat Saharonim Late Neolithic desert cult site. Journal of Archaeological Science 33: 1341-1355.
66. Prescott JR, Hutton JT. 1994. Cosmic ray contributions to dose rates for luminescence and ESR dating: large depths and long-term time variations. Radiation Measurements 23: 497-500.
67. Prideaux GJ, Roberts RG, Megirian D, Westaway KE, Hellstrom JC, Olley JM. 2007. Mammalian responses to Pleistocene climate change in southeastern Australia. Geology 35: 33-36.
68. Readhead ML. 1987. Thermoluminescence dose rate data and dating equations for the case of disequilibrium in the decay series. Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements 13: 197-207.
69. Roberts RG. 1997. Luminescence dating in archaeology: from origins to optical. Radiation Measurements 27: 819-892.
70. Roberts RG, Jones R. 1994. Luminescence dating of sediments: new light on the human colonisation of Australia. Australian Aboriginal Studies 2: 2-17.
71. Roberts RG, Jones R. 2001. Chronologies of carbon and of silica: evidence concerning the dating of the earliest human presence in northern Australia. In Humanity from African Naissance to Coming Millennia: Colloquia in Human Biology and Palaeoanthropology, Tobias PV, Raath MA, Moggi-Cecchi J, Doyle GA (eds). Firenze University Press, Firenze and Witwatersrand University Press: Johannesburg; 239-248.
72. Roberts RG, Jones R, Smith MA. 1990. Thermoluminescence dating of a 50,000 year-old human occupation site in northern Australia. Nature 345: 153-156.
73. Roberts RG, Jones R, Spooner NA, Head MJ, Murray AS, Smith MA. 1994. The human colonisation of Australia: optical dates of 53,000 and 60,000 years bracket human arrival at Deaf Adder Gorge, Northern Territory. Quaternary Science Reviews 13: 575-583.
74. Roberts RG, Spooner NA, Jones R, Cane S, Olley JM, Murray AS, Head MJ. 1996. Preliminary luminescence dates for archaeological sediments on the Nullarbor Plain, South Australia. Australian Archaeology 42: 7-16.
75. Roberts R, Bird M, Olley J, Galbraith R, Lawson E, Laslett G, Yoshida H, Jones R, Fullagar R, Jacobsen G, Hua Q. 1998a. Optical and radiocarbon dating at Jinmium rock shelter in northern Australia. Nature 393: 358-362.
76. Roberts R, Yoshida H, Galbraith R, Laslett G, Jones R, Smith M. 1998b. Single-aliquot and single-grain optical dating confirm thermoluminescence age estimates at Malakunanja II rock shelter in northern Australia. Ancient TL 16: 19-24.
77. Roberts RG, Galbraith RF, Yoshida H, Laslett GM, Olley JM. 2000. Distinguishing dose populations in sediment mixtures: a test of single-grain optical dating procedures using mixtures of laboratory- dosed quartz. Radiation Measurements 32: 459-465.
78. Roberts RG, Flannery TF, Ayliffe LK, Yoshida H, Olley JM, Prideaux GJ, Laslett GM, Baynes A, Smith MA, Jones R, Smith BL. 2001. New ages for the last Australian megafauna: continent-wide extinction about 46,000 years ago. Science 292: 1888-1892.
79. Shaw JD, Wason S. 1998. Useful plants. In Ngarrabullgan: Geographical Investigations in Djungan Country, Cape York Peninsula, David B (ed.). Monash Publications in Geography and Environmental Science 51, Monash University: Melbourne; 92-97.
80. Singarayer JS, Bailey RM. 2003. Further investigations of the quartz optically stimulated luminescence components using linear modulation. Radiation Measurements 37: 451-458.
81. Spate A. 1998. Landscapes. In Ngarrabullgan: Geographical Investigations in Djungan Country, Cape York Peninsula, David B (ed.). Monash Publications in Geography and Environmental Science 51, Monash University: Melbourne; 57-71.
82. Stokes S, Ingram S, Aitken MJ, Sirocko F, Anderson R, Leuschner D. 2003. Alternative chronologies for Late Quaternary (Last Interglacial-Holocene) deep sea sediments via optical dating of silt-size quartz. Quaternary Science Reviews 22: 925-941.
83. Thorne A, Grün R, Mortimer G, Spooner NA, Simpson JJ, McCullough MT, Taylor L, Curnoe D. 1999. Australia's oldest human remains: age of the Lake Mungo 3 skeleton. Journal of Human Evolution 36: 591-612.
84. 3:C and annealed quartz. Radiation Measurements 32: 447-451.
85. Turney CSM, Bird M, Fifield LK, Roberts RG, Smith M, Dortch CE, Grün R, Lawson E, Ayliffe LK, Miller GH, Dortch J, Cresswell RG. 2001. Early human occupation at Devil's Lair, southwestern Australia, 50,000 years ago. Quaternary Research 55: 3-13.
86. Yoshida H, Roberts RG, Olley JM. 2003. Progress towards single-grain optical dating of fossil mud-wasp nests and associated rock art in northern Australia. Quaternary Science Reviews 22: 1273-1278.
87. Zhao H, Li S-H. 2005. Internal dose rate to K-feldspar grains from radioactive elements other than potassium. Radiation Measurements 40: 84-93.