COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY IN VICTORIA PART 2: ADAPTATION TECHNOLOGY & VOLCANISM By P. J. F. C outts Victoria Archaeological Survey Victoria Avenue, Albert Park 3206 INTRODUCTION major vegetation change 3000 BP must have affected In Part 1 of this paper the morphology of coastal a r­ coastal Aboriginal economy in that area. chaeological sites in Victoria was described. M uch as it is Aboriginals periodically set fire to coastal vegeta tion desirable to place coastal sites in a rigorous cultural along other parts of the Victorian coastline during the fram ework, the present state of knowledge of coasta l ar­ Late Prehistoric period, but the antiquity of this practice chaeology in Victoria does not permit this. Instead we is not known (e.g. Port Phillip —observations by Kn op- can do little more than review some of the more in­ wood (Nicholls 1977: 35, 37, 39)). Thus patterns of teresting aspects of coastal archaeology. Topical issues coastal vegetation have varied from time to time an d that could be discussed are: the relationship throu gh resulting changes in Aboriginal economy can be ex­ time between resources orientated and generalised pected in archaeological records. economic strategies; the relationship between the level of stone technology, coastal economies and produc­ COASTLINE CHANGES tivity; the im portance of fishing in local economie s; the relative importance of sandy beach and estuarine Changes in the coastline induced changes in coastal habitats and their degree of exposure to ocean swell; ecology, which in turn affected Aboriginal settleme nt changes in coastline and marine habitats induced by patterns (Lampert & Hughes 1974), and possibly social fluctuations in sea level; and changes in sea water and economic patterns, and material culture. During the temperatures and their effect on abundance and variety past 20 000 years the Victorian coastline has reced ed of marine fauna. (Fig. 1) as the sea-level rose after the last glacial period. In this paper problems relating to the technology o f The coastline stabilised about 6000 BP, which is th e flint, interpreting various archaeological sites, a nd m an’s oldest dating for most archaeological sites along the pre­ need to adapt to a changing coastal environment are sent coastline. However, in several coastal areas, Cape discussed. Adaptations of particular interest are those Nelson, Cape W oolamai, the southern tip of Wilsons arising from natural processes (e.g. rises in sea level and Promontory, Point Hicks and Gabo Island, where the volcanism) or from the actions of man himself (e.g. inshore submarine profiles are steep, sites having ar­ fire). chaeological records older than 6000 BP may be foun d. Indeed if the interstadial high of circa 35 000 BP CHANGES IN COASTAL VEGETATION reached minus 10 m then these areas may still have the In evaluating the economic potential of coastal are as only examples of littoral exploitation dating from those at any prehistoric time the resources of the sea an d the periods. immediate hinterland must be assessed in concert. Port Phillip probably began to fill about 9000 BP a nd Vegetation is a key factor as it largely determines the its com paratively flat floor would have precluded e xten­ range of animal and vegetable foods available. Chan ges sive occupation anywhere as sea-level rose. Thus mo st in vegetation patterns almost certainly precipitate d middens around Port Phillip are likely to post-date 6000 adaptation. It is likely that coastal vegetation ha s chan­ BP. W estern Port began to fill around 8000 BP when the ged during the past 30 000 years, as sea-level rose and western margins were inundated. The islands in W estern fell. Analyses of pollen from south-eastern South Port would not have been formed until the sea-level was Australia, from Wilsons Promontory and from Lake very close to its present height about 6000 BP. Evidence Keilambete suggest that fluctuations in climate dur ing of slightly older littoral exploitation may also be found the past 10 000 years have not been severe enough to on the western fringes of the two largest islands in modify the main floral associations to any great ex tent W estern Port and on the m ainland between Flinders a nd (Dodson 1974a, 1974b, Dodson & Wilson 1975, Hope Hastings. The only other area that may have ar­ 1974, Yezdani 1970). chaeological littoral sites pre-dating 6000 BP is the However, in Gippsland, using pollen data that span coastal strip along the eastern edge of Cape Otway, the last 7000 years Hooley, Southern and Kershaw where the underwater terrain is steeper than in mos t (1980) dem onstrated a dram atic shift from Casuarina to other coastal areas. Even there the sites are unlik ely to Eucalyptus woodland about 3000 years before the pre­ be much more than 500-1000 years older than those in sent (BP) and a further decline in Casuarina about 200 other coastal areas in Victoria. BP. Both periods of change are associated with peak s in If the sea-level circa 6000 BP (see Gill & Hopley 1972, charcoal debris in soil profiles, which suggests th at the Thom, Hails & Martin 1969, Thom, Hails, Martin & changes were fire initiated, and probably by man. T he Phipps 1972) was 2-3 m higher than at present, the man- B 16 P. J. F. COUTTS made littoral deposits in the relatively flat zones of in material culture seem to have been widespread W estern Port, Corner Inlet and the Gippsland Lakes throughout Victoria (Coutts & W itter 1977, Hope & would have been inundated and covered by sediments. Coutts 1971) and cannot be explained in this way. Aboriginal sites formed then would be further inlan d FLINT AND COASTAL RESOURCES USAGE than the present shoreline. Large quantities of flint are found in many Victorian As the sea rose to its present level, areas rich in food coastal archaeological sites. It derives from Gambier resources were created (Bowdler 1977: 213). Such areas limestone (Gill 1957) and has been washed in from include Western Port, Port Phillip, M allacoota Inle t offshore, often buoyed by kelp (Fig. 2, Boutakoff 1 963, and the Gippsland Lakes. However, it is not clear y et Hossfeld 1966, M itchell 1949). Gill (1957) suggeste d that whether the prehistoric inhabitants living in these areas Aboriginals obtained flint from caves, sink holes a nd re- had the required technologies to exploit the resources emerged Pleistocene strand lines along the coast ne ar the effectively (Lam pert & Hughes 1974). South Australian/Victorian border. Although similar One of the most important events affecting coastal flint can be obtained from inland areas of south an d ecology and therefore hum an settlement was the inun da­ north-eastern South Australia (W right 1971) and fro m tion of the land bridge joining Tasmania and mainla nd isolated localities in western Victoria (Hossfeld 1 966, P. Australia. Unfortunately the impact of these change s on Kenley pers. comm.) it is considered unlikely that the Aboriginal communities, occupying the Victorian flint nodules found along the Victorian coast came from coastline has not yet been docum ented archaeologica lly. any of these sources. M uch of the present Victorian coastline is eroding to­ The following observations are pertinent to the day and there is increasing evidence that many site s less distribution of flint on the Victorian coast and its use by than 500 years old that are or were situated in the vicin­ Aboriginals: ity of the foredunes or on low cliff tops, are bein g eroded away or have disappeared already. Other periods of ac­ (1) Flint occurs in coastal archaeological sites an d tive erosion may have occurred over the past few th ou­ on beaches between Wilsons Promontory and sand years, initiated by minor fluctuations in sea-level. the South Australian border, increasing in fre­ So far there is only one published instance of a ch anging quency from east to west. coastal geomorphology affecting prehistoric human s et­ (2) Flint implements are rarely found in ar­ tlement in Victoria (Coutts 1967, Hope & Coutts 1971). chaeological sites east of W ilsons Prom ontory. On the west coast of Yanakie Isthmus, Wilsons Pro­ (3) Flint was used by Victorian Aboriginals at montory, there are two dune systems associated with Wilsons Promontory around 5000 BP (Coutts two series of sites ‘A’ and ‘B’ (Coutts 1970, 1981). 1970) and at Thunder Point near W arrnam bool, Because ‘A’ series middens are exposed in the erode d around 4300 BP (Coutts 1978). In western Vic­ cliffs along the beach they must have once extended fur­ toria, so called Gambieran implements made ther out onto the beach and consequently, when thes e from flint have been found in unstratified con­ sites were occupied the coastline must have been fu rther text (Mitchell 1949). The flint is thought to seaward than it is today. derive from local outcrops rather than from ‘A’ series sites are found on the summits of coastal beaches (Clark 1979). In South Australia Pleistocene dunes which run alm ost at right angles to the none of the implements from Devon Downs or present coastline. Peat deposits which outcrop on the From m ’s Landing (sites less than 5000 years old beach between these dunes can be linked stratigraph ic- and little m ore than 200 km from the coast) were ally with soils containing the ‘A’ series middens. made from flint (Hale & Tindale 1930, M ulvaney Radiocarbon dating of the latter indicate that they were 1960, M ulvaney, Lawson & Twidale 1964), but a formed about 3000-6500 years ago and a single date few fragments of dark blue-grey flint have been (6010 ±110 BP) from the peat deposit confirms the excavated at Roonka, a site which dates from stratigraphic relationships (Coutts 1967).