Alan Williams
Alan has recently completed a PhD at ANU, which explored prehistoric Australian populations and their response to climate change, using time-series analysis. He also is a technical leader of Aboriginal heritage for EMM Consulting, who undertake compliance based heritage and resource management across Australia and the Asia Pacific.
Supervisors: Mike Smith, Chris Turney, Peter Hiscock, Libby Robin, and Will Steffen
Address: 2/729 Elizabeth Street,
Waterloo, NSW 2017
Australia
Supervisors: Mike Smith, Chris Turney, Peter Hiscock, Libby Robin, and Will Steffen
Address: 2/729 Elizabeth Street,
Waterloo, NSW 2017
Australia
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Papers by Alan Williams
occupation. This removes key field evidence for the ‘Australian Desert Culture’, a concept that has increasingly become an anomaly since the 1980s
regional patterns developed and these have survived despite substantial climatic and cultural change during the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. Remarkably, we find evidence for the continuous presence of populations in discrete geographic areas dating back to around 50 ka, in agreement with the notable Aboriginal Australian cultural attachment to their country.
routinely include large numbers of backed artifacts. A geoarchaeological survey of five potential silcrete source areas found that silcrete is irregularly distributed along ridgelines within gravel patches that represent paleochannel remnants. Thus, particular parts of the landscape, dictated by the geological history, were more likely to be targeted for stone procurement. The quality of silcrete differs between and within the sources due to variations in grain-size, degree of silicification, and presence of inclusions/fractures, as well as the destructive influence of bush fires on exposed cobbles, resulting in an overall low abundance of high-quality silcrete across the Cumberland Plain. Furthermore, a rind or chalky weathering cortex on many cobbles means that testing was
required to assess the internal raw material quality. The difficulty in locating suitable raw material for artifact manufacture meant that when good silcrete sources were found, they were heavily targeted. This contextual information
provides an essential backdrop in which to understand the archaeology of the Cumberland Plain and broader patterns of landscape use.
The database is intended as a resource for archaeologists working in southern Australia. It provides a ready checklist of dated sites as well as a comprehensive listing of radiocarbon and luminescence age determinations, and in conjunction with calibration programs such as OxCal or Calib, can be used to generate radiocarbon density plots for analysis of trends in occupation. Research in southern Australia has been extensive over the last 50 years, making this central listing of chronometric data particularly relevant, and we hpoe that AustArch 3 will become a useful tool for both consultant and academic archaeologists.
"
gives greater reliability to the reconstructed population curve. This shows low populations through the Late Pleistocene, before a slow stepwise increase in population beginning during the Holocene transition (approx. 12 ka) and continuing in pulses (approx. 8.3–6.6, 4.4–3.7 and 1.6–0.4 ka) through the Holocene. These data give no support for an early saturation of the continent, although the estimated population following initial landfall was probably greater than previously allowed comparable with the Early Holocene). The greatest increase in population occurred in the Late Holocene, but in contrasto existing intensification models, changes in demography and diversification
of economic activities began much earlier. Some demographic changes appear to be in response to major climatic events, most notably during the last glacial maximum, where the curve suggests that population fell by about 60 per cenbetween 21 and 18 ka. An application of statistical demographic methods to Australian ethnographic and genetic data suggests that a ounding group of 1000–2000 at 50 ka would result in a population high of approximately 1.2 million at approximately 0.5 ka. Data suggests an 8 per cent decline to approximately
770 000–1.1 million at the time of European contact, giving a figure consistent with ethnographic estimates and with historical observations of the impact of smallpox, and other diseases introduced by Macassans and Europeans during and after AD 1788.
in the UK. The precise reason, or reasons, for this event remain unclear, although changes in peatland hydrology seem most likely. The growth of Taxus on peatland not only has considerable importance for our knowledge of the vegetation history of southeast England, and NW Europe generally, but also has wider implications for the interpretation of Holocene palaeobotanical records. At c. 3900 cal. yr BP, Taxus declined on the peatland surface during a period of major hydrological change (marine incursion), an event also strongly associated with the decline of dryland woodland taxa, including Tilia and Quercus, and the appearance of anthropogenic indicators."
occupation. This removes key field evidence for the ‘Australian Desert Culture’, a concept that has increasingly become an anomaly since the 1980s
regional patterns developed and these have survived despite substantial climatic and cultural change during the late Pleistocene and Holocene epochs. Remarkably, we find evidence for the continuous presence of populations in discrete geographic areas dating back to around 50 ka, in agreement with the notable Aboriginal Australian cultural attachment to their country.
routinely include large numbers of backed artifacts. A geoarchaeological survey of five potential silcrete source areas found that silcrete is irregularly distributed along ridgelines within gravel patches that represent paleochannel remnants. Thus, particular parts of the landscape, dictated by the geological history, were more likely to be targeted for stone procurement. The quality of silcrete differs between and within the sources due to variations in grain-size, degree of silicification, and presence of inclusions/fractures, as well as the destructive influence of bush fires on exposed cobbles, resulting in an overall low abundance of high-quality silcrete across the Cumberland Plain. Furthermore, a rind or chalky weathering cortex on many cobbles means that testing was
required to assess the internal raw material quality. The difficulty in locating suitable raw material for artifact manufacture meant that when good silcrete sources were found, they were heavily targeted. This contextual information
provides an essential backdrop in which to understand the archaeology of the Cumberland Plain and broader patterns of landscape use.
The database is intended as a resource for archaeologists working in southern Australia. It provides a ready checklist of dated sites as well as a comprehensive listing of radiocarbon and luminescence age determinations, and in conjunction with calibration programs such as OxCal or Calib, can be used to generate radiocarbon density plots for analysis of trends in occupation. Research in southern Australia has been extensive over the last 50 years, making this central listing of chronometric data particularly relevant, and we hpoe that AustArch 3 will become a useful tool for both consultant and academic archaeologists.
"
gives greater reliability to the reconstructed population curve. This shows low populations through the Late Pleistocene, before a slow stepwise increase in population beginning during the Holocene transition (approx. 12 ka) and continuing in pulses (approx. 8.3–6.6, 4.4–3.7 and 1.6–0.4 ka) through the Holocene. These data give no support for an early saturation of the continent, although the estimated population following initial landfall was probably greater than previously allowed comparable with the Early Holocene). The greatest increase in population occurred in the Late Holocene, but in contrasto existing intensification models, changes in demography and diversification
of economic activities began much earlier. Some demographic changes appear to be in response to major climatic events, most notably during the last glacial maximum, where the curve suggests that population fell by about 60 per cenbetween 21 and 18 ka. An application of statistical demographic methods to Australian ethnographic and genetic data suggests that a ounding group of 1000–2000 at 50 ka would result in a population high of approximately 1.2 million at approximately 0.5 ka. Data suggests an 8 per cent decline to approximately
770 000–1.1 million at the time of European contact, giving a figure consistent with ethnographic estimates and with historical observations of the impact of smallpox, and other diseases introduced by Macassans and Europeans during and after AD 1788.
in the UK. The precise reason, or reasons, for this event remain unclear, although changes in peatland hydrology seem most likely. The growth of Taxus on peatland not only has considerable importance for our knowledge of the vegetation history of southeast England, and NW Europe generally, but also has wider implications for the interpretation of Holocene palaeobotanical records. At c. 3900 cal. yr BP, Taxus declined on the peatland surface during a period of major hydrological change (marine incursion), an event also strongly associated with the decline of dryland woodland taxa, including Tilia and Quercus, and the appearance of anthropogenic indicators."