SEMINAR: Archaeology Seminar Series

Stone artefacts have played a defining role in archaeological understandings of the deep past of Australia. Variation in the form of artefacts across time and space has been a focus of archaeological research, primarily approached with questions on economic processes such as reduction sequences or mobility, rather than more complex, social processes such as skill development. The dominance of economic and functionalist questions leaves room for a new approach that seeks a more balanced and holistic understanding of human life. To achieve this goal, this project will develop an approach based on a relational ontological understanding of human beings and their actions.

Relational ontology considers the relations between entities to be ontologically fundamental rather than the entities themselves; within anthropological thought relational ontology underlies arguments that humans are always in the process of coming into being in relation to their specific contexts and social relations. This project will build a relational interpretative framework for the study of stone artefacts in the Australian archaeological record based upon ethnographic evidence and a theoretically engaged understanding of what it is to learn and become skilled. This paper will provide an overview of my proposed Masters research, a roadmap for the completion of the project, and some preliminary comments on the potential of this research approach to deliver a more contextualised understanding of Australian Aboriginal stone artefact assemblages.