World Archaeological Congress 10
What was under discussion at the latest World Archaeological Congress? Stu Eve reviews events at the gathering in Darwin, Australia.
Australia
Koonalda Cave: A place of ancient engravings and flint mining
Far below the Nullarbor Plain in Australia lies an extraordinary gallery of rock art. Exploration and research in Koonalda Cave has revealed much about these ancient markings, as well as mining and the early occupation of Australia, as Keryn Walshe, April Nowell, and Clem Lawrie reveal.
Ancient Australian pottery
New discoveries on a small Australian island are rewriting our understanding of the culture and technology of the country’s early people. It has long been believed that the ancient Aboriginal peoples of Australia did not have pottery. A few examples…
Jailhouse Rocks: Exploring archaeological echoes of Australia’s earliest colonists
The city of Sydney has changed beyond recognition since it was founded as Britain’s first Australian penal colony in 1788. Carly Hilts set out to explore some of the surviving traces of its earliest years.
British nuclear test veterans to receive new medal
The Nuclear Test Medal has been announced to commemorate the ‘Plutonium Jubilee’, the 70th anniversary of Britain’s first nuclear test.
Seven Sisters Dreaming stories identified in Australian rock art
More than 15,000 petroglyphs were documented in the rock shelter.
Life and death in an early South Australian colony
Information about the health of early migrants to South Australia was obtained through analysis such as micro-CT scanning of their teeth.
Australia’s famous ‘unknown sailor’ identified after 80 years
No other sailors from HMAS Sydney were ever recovered, even after the ship’s wreckage was located in 2008.
Cloggs Cave: a temporary hunting camp or secluded retreat and source of magical supplies?
How do we interpret archaeological sites? Excavations conducted 50 years ago at Cloggs Cave, in south-eastern Australia, revealed what seemed to be a temporary hunting camp. Fresh research, though, points to this cavity having been used as a secluded place of magic and danger, accessed only by a few powerful individuals. Russell Mullett and Bruno David told Current World Archaeology's Matthew Symonds what has changed.
Protected places and prehistoric pints
Abydos was not only the earliest brewery and the forerunner of the great royal cemeteries... it was also the birthplace of the funeral wake and possibly too of the mass hangover.
Australia’s ancient rock art
Researchers in Australia have used wasp nests on a cave wall to identify the earliest known example of in situ rock art in the country: a painting of a kangaroo created over 17,000 years ago.
MHM Letters – April/May
Your thoughts on issues raised by the magazine.
New dating for Australia’s ancient paintings
While the kangaroo is the oldest known painting in Australia so far, there may even be older paintings yet to be discovered.
War Athletes: Keith Truscott
No other Australian was so dear to the public as ‘Bluey’ Truscott... He was idolised and idealised, but not put on a pedestal.