Applying geoarchaeological principles to marine archaeology: A new reappraisal of the “first marine” and “in-situ” lithic scatters, Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), NW Australia

Abstract

The absence or paucity of known underwater cultural heritage (UCH) sites on the Australian inner shelf stands in stark contrast to the thousands of sites revealed elsewhere in the world. A series of papers have asserted the first in situ (i.e., primary context) UCH sites in the shallow waters of Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), NW Australia, each arguing the stone artefact scatters are at least 7000 years old and are now submerged because of Post-Glacial sea-level rise. Subsequent papers presented new data and repeated these claims. We present new hydrodynamic modelling and data on coastal erosion and bathymetry, and re-assess each sites' sedimentary setting and archaeological site-formation history.

The arguments for these sites being of primary context and reflecting Early Holocene land surfaces are unfounded, and at best untested. All artefacts are of unknown age, and many or all are likely to have been reworked, including the subtidal artefacts in Flying Foam Passage. Such sites of secondary context, if treated appropriately, can inform our understanding of site-formation processes, and may support more powerful contributions to submerged archaeology than attempts to seek the first or the oldest.