SEMINAR: Archaeology Seminar Series

The modification of the landscape through the construction of stone arrangements at Murujuga and across the Dampier Archipelago is a clear example of humans engaging with and impacting upon their environment. Some of the densest concentrations of stone arrangements in Australia are found in this area, and the values associated with these features contributed to the successful entry of this site onto the National Heritage List. Despite this, only a cursory examination of these sites has been undertaken to date (Gara nd; in Veth et al. 1993). My proposed project will use multi-scalar analysis to better understand the past functional and symbolic uses of stone arrangements. Theories of style and information exchange will be mobilised and combined with local and regional spatial analyses. The geospatial relationship between stone arrangement morphology and location will be interrogated against variables such as: visibility, access, available resources and proximity to other archaeological sites. This process will aim to identify spatial patterns which will be used to better understand these sites and the parameters that influenced their creation.