Seasonality of fishing in south-east Queensland

Abstract

Seasonality determinations by growth ring analysis are provided for 112 marine fish vertebrae excavated from late Holocene archaeological sites in coastal south-east Queensland.  These indicate that fishing was undertaken throughout the year.  It is concluded that models of Late Holocene subsistence and settlement in this region which rely on an assumption of winter dominance in marine fish harvesting must be rejected.  This  has implications for models which relate seasonal resource gluts to forms of social complexity.