Excavations, Surveys and Heritage Management in Victoria Volume 3 2014 Excavations, Surveys and Heritage Management in Victoria Volume 3 2014 1 Excavations, Surveys and Heritage Management in Victoria Voume 3, 2014 Edited by Caroline Spry David Frankel Susan Lawrence Ilya Berelov Shaun Canning Front cover photograph Sisters Rocks. Courtesy Darren Griffin (photo taken on 17 October 2013) Excavations, Surveys and Heritage Management in Victoria Volume 3, 2014 Melbourne © 2014 The authors. All rights reserved. ISBN 978-0-9924332-3-9 2 Contents Editorial note 5 Papers Pleistocene to Holocene in the Upper Maribyrnong River Basin: excavations at Deep Creek, 7 Bulla William Anderson and Racheal Minos Investigation of a Pleistocene river terrace at Birrarrung Park, Lower Templestowe, Victoria 15 Martin Lawler, Ilya Berelov and Tim Cavanagh A Pleistocene date at Chelsea Heights, Victoria: evidence for Aboriginal occupation beneath 23 the Carrum Swamp Jim Wheeler, Alan N. Williams, Stacey Kennedy, Phillip S. Toms and Peter Mitchell Results of recent archaeological investigations along Wallpolla Creek, northwestern Victoria, 33 Australia Ben Watson and Paul Kucera The Browns Creek Community Archaeology Project: preliminary results from the survey and 43 excavation of a late Holocene shell midden on the Victorian coast Martin Lawler, Ron Arnold, Kasey F. Robb, Andy I.R. Herries, Tya Lovett, Christine Keogh, Matthew Phelan, Steven E. Falconer, Patricia L. Fall, Tiffany James-Lee and Ilya Berelov Hiding in plain sight: excavation of a lost pioneer homestead on Kororoit Creek 53 Barry Green Lonsdale Street, Little Lonsdale Street and Altson Lane, Melbourne: initial testing and first 57 stage of historical excavations in 2013 Alison O’Connor Socio-economics of archaeology in Victoria after the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 65 Nicolas Zorzin 3 Contents Abstracts Identifying Aboriginal hearths in Late Quaternary northwest Victoria: cultural vs natural 75 accumulations of burnt clay and the implications for understanding the archaeological record Alex Blackwood, Emily Dillon, Chris Silvester, David Clark, Jeffrey Clarke, Maurizio Campanelli, Anthony Dall’Oste, Ada Dinckal, Sara Lombardo, Anthony Romano, Adam Valka, and Jillian Garvey Investigating Late Quaternary human occupation of semi-arid northwest Victoria: preliminary 76 survey and excavation at Neds Corner Station and Murray-Sunset National Park Jillian Garvey Re-evaluating artefact density as a standalone method of categorising stone artefact 77 occurrences in Victoria: a case study from Beveridge Caroline Spry Landscape analysis in archaeology: interpretation of Aboriginal campsites at ‘Greenhills’, 78 Pakenham David Rhodes The Victorian Digital Archaeological Data Archive: an annual update 79 Josara de Lange Indigenous cultural heritage management at the Mornington Peninsula Shire 80 Adam Magennis Sisters Rocks: changing connections to a sacred place 81 Darren Griffin and Ben Watson The formation of cesspit deposits at Little Lon, Melbourne 82 Sarah Hayes and Barbara Minchinton The buildings of Abbotsford Convent: insights into the practice of confinement 83 Edwina Kay Two households… in Truganina, where we lay our scene 84 Sylvana Szydzik and Pamela Ricardi A brief comparison of Indigenous cultural heritage legislation - or - It’s not that bad here in 85 Victoria….no, really…. Jamin Moon La Trobe University’s Young Archaeologists’ Program 86 Thea Kinsela, Maddy Maitri and Susan Lawrence Fieldwork at Keilor: a short film 87 John Tunn 4 Editorial note The papers included here were presented at the third of work being carried out in Victoria, and we hope that colloquium on Victorian archaeology held at La Trobe many of these will also form the basis for more complete University in February 2014. As in previous years, we studies in the future. The extended papers were refereed, would like to thank all the participants whose attendance and we would like to thank those who assisted with this testifies to the importance of what has now become task. Caroline Spry managed this process and much of a fixture within the local archaeological calendar as the sub-editing of this volume. Layout, as in other years, an important opportunity for academics, consultants, was undertaken by David Frankel. managers and Aboriginal community groups to share As with the previous volumes, the illustrations are their common interests in the archaeology and heritage all in black and white, although many, especially the GIS of Victoria. maps, would be clearer in their original colour. Anyone It is of particular value to include papers in this issue interested in having copies of these should contact the on the earliest periods which are far less well-represented individual authors. in Victoria than in many other parts of Australia. That The 2014 Colloquium was generously supported these data emerge from consultancies demonstrates the by our Principal Sponsor, Australian Cultural Heritage importance of a strong research component in heritage Management (ACHM), as well as other sponsors, studies. But many othjer aspects of both research and including Ochre Imprints, AACAI, Biosis Pty Ltd, community engagement are also covered, dealing both Archaeological and Heritage Management Solutions with Aboriginal and European heritage. (AHMS) and the Department of Archaeology at La We are especially grateful to those who later were Trobe University. able to prepare more developed papers for publication. The editors and authors acknowledge the traditional Other presenters allowed slides abstracted from their owners of the land and heritage discussed in this book, PowerPoint presentations to be included with their and pay their respects to their elders, past and present. abstracts in this volume. These demonstrate the range 5 6 Pleistocene to Holocene in the Upper Maribyrnong River Basin: excavations at Deep Creek, Bulla William Anderson and Racheal Minosa Abstract Geomorphological research, supported by radiocarbon age estimates from artefact-bearing Archaeological study of the Maribyrnong River valley north sediments, revealed a long sequence of human of Melbourne has been crucial to understanding long-term occupation at Keilor dating from the late Pleistocene and human habitation in Australia. A recent cultural heritage early Holocene (Munro 1998). The earliest artefacts were investigation across the incised valley of Deep Creek at contained in clay to depths of 7 m from the so-called Bulla has yielded new information on the chronology and Arundel Terrace, with age estimates greater than 31,000 context of Aboriginal occupation along this tributary of the BP, alongside megafaunal remains (Duncan 2001). Maribyrnong. Extensive lithic artefact scatters, featuring Another discovery of human remains in 1965 at Green diverse materials and forms, span a large alluvial terrace Gully (Brimbank Park), downstream and little more than beside a meander bend at the base of the valley. As well 3 km from the Keilor site, prompted a separate excavation as documenting the abundant artefacts present on the project that yielded substantial information on the surface and at shallow depths below ground, a mechanical archaeology and landscape history of the Maribyrnong excavation clarified the geomorphology of the terrace and River valley (Bowler 1970; Mulvaney 1970). Recent verified the presence of deeply buried cultural deposits. investigations at Brimbank Park have since built upon Quartzite implements were found within stratified silt the results of these earlier campaigns (Canning et al. deposits of up to 3 m depth, and charcoal samples were 2010; Tunn 1998). recovered from secure cultural contexts. Radiocarbon age Fieldwork and research at Keilor between the 1960s estimates obtained from these samples confirm human and 1980s were significant in shaping many of the occupation of this valley before and during the Pleistocene– practices, theories and debates still current in Australian Holocene transition. archaeology. However, the circumstances differed markedly from archaeological practice in Victoria today. The rise of cultural heritage management and Background the consolidation of privatised contract archaeology have been paralleled by a shift in emphasis towards The chance discovery in 1940 of a prehistoric human the investigation of Aboriginal places at risk of harm. skull at Keilor, north of Melbourne, signalled the start Research aims are fitted around pre-determined project of sustained archaeological interest in the Maribyrnong briefs — location, scale and budget — which are set by River valley. Recovered from eroded Pleistocene deposits, the sponsor rather than themselves being the motivating the Keilor cranium proved the antiquity of humans in factor. Thus, in the current context, the generation of new the region, and at the time it was judged to represent information and insights about the Aboriginal past are the oldest-known human skeletal remains in Australia seen as virtually incidental, and secondary to the aims (Gill 1966). Areas near the find-spot were investigated by of heritage management. Yet important information can Alexander Gallus, who sought to prove the development still be gleaned from commercial heritage assessments. of early hominins in Australia using an elaborate typology The opportunity to investigate Deep Creek, which has of stone tools (Mulvaney 1998). In part motivated by the many similarities to Keilor in terms of its topography and need to scrutinise these controversial claims, excavations geomorphology,