Premium
Excavations at Mackintosh 90/1 in western Tasmania: a discussion of stratigraphy, chronology and site formation
Author(s) -
Stern Nicola,
Marshall Brendan
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
archaeology in oceania
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1834-4453
pISSN - 0728-4896
DOI - 10.1002/j.1834-4453.1993.tb00310.x
Subject(s) - archaeology , chronology , pleistocene , assemblage (archaeology) , cave , debris , geology , excavation , glacial period , faunal assemblage , stratigraphy , paleontology , palimpsest , geography , ecology , oceanography , fauna , biology , tectonics
Mackintosh 90/1 is a limestone cave situated on the edge of Lake Mackintosh in western Tasmania. It contains a moderate density of archaeological debris in a narrow band of organic rich sandy silts that accumulated over a 2,000 year time span immediately following the last glacial maximum. It thus provides a rare opportunity to investigate the composition and structure of a palimpsest of material debris with very fine temporal resolution. Preliminary analyses indicate that both marsupial carnivores and humans contributed to the faunal remains that accumulated at this site and that Bennett's wallaby and wombat are the only two items of human prey included in the assemblage. Preliminary analyses also indicate that the artefact assemblage recovered from Mackintosh 90/1 is broadly similar to those recovered from Pleistocene sites in south‐west Tasmania, in terms of the raw materials being worked and the type of flaking debris being discarded.