Northern Australian offshore island use during the\ud Holocene: the archaeology of Vanderlin Island, Sir Edward Pellew Group, Gulf of\ud Carpentaria

摘要

This paper presents an overview of archaeological\udinvestigations in the Sir Edward Pellew Islands in the\udsouthwest Gulf of Carpentaria, northern Australia, It is argued\udthat Vanderlin Island, like the majority of Australia's offshore\udislands, attests to a lacuna in human habitation for several\udthousand years after the marine transgression and consequent\udinsulation c.6700 years ago. With the imminent threat of\udinundation, people appear to have retreated to higher land,\udabandoning the peripheral exposed shelf areas; subsequent\ud(re)colonisation of these relict shelf areas in their form as\udislands took place steadily from c.4200 Bp, with increased\udintensity of occupation after 1300 BP. Possible links between\udthe timing of island occupation, watercraft technology and\udthe role of climate change are investigated, with more recent\udchanges in the archaeological record of Vanderlin Island also\udexamined in light of cultural contact with Macassans.