A South Australian Looks at Some Beginnings of Archaeological Research in Australia

Abstract

In 1929 the consensus seemed to be that no cultural changes were evident, and that the residence of the Australian Aborigines had not extended far enough back to have affected the ecology of the land. The Murray River finds thus were a direct contradiction of prevailing ideas. Today the indications of antiquity seem very different. At least two recent finds of Kartan type stone tools, mentioned later in this paper, both derived from shore deposits of the Woakwine marine terrace in the south east of South Australia, may suggest that man has been here at least since the interstadial between Wisconsin I and II Glacial times. Perhaps some of the earliest folk to arrive crossed over the ever present sea barriers dividing Asia from Australia, well before the rise of sea level marking the end of Wisconsin I.