Aboriginal Heritage Glossary
Types Of Aboriginal Prehistoric Archaeological Sites
Artefact Scatter
A surface scatter of stone artefacts is defined as being the occurrence of five (5) or more items of cultural material within an area of about 100m2 (AAV 1993:lj). Artefact scatters are often the only physical remains of places where Aborigines have camped, prepared and eaten meals, and worked stone material.
Burials
Burial sites may occur in association with campsites, in mounds or shell middens or in specific burial grounds that lack any other cultural material. Softer ground was chosen for burials, and any sandy area can be expected to contain burials. Burial sites can contain one or a number of individuals. Burial sites and cemeteries are a common archaeological site type in the sand country adjoining the Murray River, though are a rare feature in the southern part of Victoria.
Ceremonial Site
An area used as a meeting place where large groups gathered for feasts, ceremonies or settlement of disputes, but they are difficult or impossible to identify from material evidence. In some instances, they are mentioned in historical sources, or may be known to Aboriginal people through oral tradition. These sites will be highly significant to Aboriginal communities.
Contact Site
These are sites relating to the period of first contact between Aboriginal and European people. These sites may be associated with conflict between First Australians and settlers, mission stations or reserves, or historic camping places. The artefact assemblage of contact sites will often include artefacts manufactured from glass.
Grinding Grooves
These sites generally occur on sandstone outcrops and to a lesser extent granite outcrops and result from the sharpening of ground stone hatchets/axe heads. Grinding grooves are often located on prominent hilltops.
Hearth
Usually a sub-surface feature found eroding out of a river or creek bank or in a sand dune - it indicates a place where Aboriginal people cooked food. The remains of a hearth are usually identifiable by the presence of charcoal and sometimes clay balls (like brick fragments) and hearth stones. Remains of burnt bone or shell are sometimes preserved within a hearth.
In Situ:
Refers to cultural material that is discovered as being undisturbed and considered to be in its original context. That is, material which, when identified is considered to be in the same location when the site was abandoned.
Isolated Artefact Occurrence
An isolated artefact is defined as being the occurrence of four (4) or less items of cultural material within an area of about 100m (AAV 1993:1). It/they can be evidence of an ephemeral (or one off) activity location, the results of an artefact being lost or discarded during travel or evidence of an artefact scatter which is otherwise obscured by poor ground surface visibility.
Midden Sites
'Midden' is a term borrowed from the Danish. It originally applied to the accumulations of shell and other food remains left by Mesolithic man in that country. Australian Midden sites are an accumulation of hearth and food debris, which has built up a deposit on the ground surface over a length of time. Middens are generally comprised of charcoal and either freshwater or coastal shell species, depending on the site's location. Midden sites may also contain stone artefacts, and the food refuse of other native animals such as small mammals. Their thick deposit of burnt shells and dark grey/black deposit can distinguish midden sites within the landscape. Coastal shell middens are often found in close association with rock platforms. Freshwater shell middens are found in close proximity to areas that provided freshwater mussels.
Mound Sites
Mound sites are accumulation of hearth (fire place) debris, which has over time built a thick deposit on the ground's surface. Mounds are generally comprised of charcoal; burnt clay balls and burnt food refuse such as native animal bones. Mound sites may also contain stone artefacts. On rare occasions mound sites may also contain human burial remains. Mound sites can be distinguished in the landscape by their characteristic dark grey/black deposit and height above surrounding land. Mounds that have been utilised over long periods can obtain dimensions of over 100m in length and 1m in height. Mound sites are generally situated close to major streams, and large water bodies. In times of flood, mound sites often become marooned, and provide dry land points from which surrounding resources could have been exploited.
Rock Shelter/Cave
These are sites that are within a rock shelter/overhang or caves. The archaeological deposits within such sites can vary considerably but are often predominantly lithic. Depending on their location, the archaeological deposit may also include midden deposits of shellfish, fish or terrestrial fauna. Due to the often undisturbed deposits at these sites, they are potentially very valuable and are generally considered of high scientific significance. Instances where rock shelter sites also possess art work on the stone walls are considered as rock shelter/art site combined.
Rock Wells
Rock wells are natural cavities in rock outcrops that hold water. They are characterised by relatively narrow openings that limit evaporation. These water sources were commonly known to Aboriginal people and were kept clean and maintained by them. Since they are natural features, they are difficult to identify as Aboriginal sites. The most reliable indicator is the existence of a strong local oral tradition of Aboriginal use.
Scarred Tree
Scars on trees may be the result of removal of strips of bark by First Australians for the manufacture of utensils, canoes or for shelter; or resulting from small notches chopped into the bark to provide toe and hand holds for climbers after possums, koalas and/or views of the surrounding area. A scar made by humans as opposed to naturally made by branches falling off is distinguished by the following criteria: symmetry and rounded ends, scar does not extend to the ground, some regrowth has occurred around the edges of the scar, and no holes or knots present in the heartwood.
Stone Arrangements
These sites are specifically patterned rocks located on the ground's surface. It is often difficult to identify these sites within the field and even more difficult to define their function unless Aboriginal oral tradition exists.
Aboriginal Artefact Types
Artefact
Any product made by human hands or caused to be made through human actions.
Anvil
A portable flat stone, usually a river pebble, which has been used as a base for working stone. Anvils that have been used often have a small circular depression in the centre where cores were held while being struck. An anvil is often a multifunctional tool used also as a grindstone and hammer stone.
Axe
A stone artefact that has been ground on one or more sides to produce a sharp edge.
Backed Blade (Geometric Microlith):
A blade flake has been abruptly retouched along one or more margins opposite an acute (sharp) edge. Backed pieces include backed blades and geometric microliths. They are thought to have been hafted onto wooden handles to produce composite cutting tools or spears. Backed blades are a feature of the "Australian Small Tool Tradition", dating from between 5,000 and 1,000 years ago in southern Australia (Mulvaney 1975).
Blade
A long parallel-sided flake from a specially prepared core. Blade flakes are twice as long as they are wide.
Bipolar
A core or a flake, which, presumably, has been struck on an anvil. The core from which the flake has been struck has been rotated before the flake has been struck off. Bifacial platforms tend to indicate the flake has come off a heavily worked core.
Broad Platform
This a term used to describe the shape of the platform on a flake. A broad platform is wider than the body of a flake. Broad platform flakes are produced when flakes are struck off back from the edge of the platform on a core.
Bulb of Percussion
This is the conchoidal protuberance (percussion rings) formed under the point of impact when a flake is struck off the core.
Core
An artefact from which flakes have been detached using a hammer stone. Core types include blade, single platform, multiplatform and bipolar forms.
Cortex
Original or natural (unflaked) surface of a stone.
Flaked Piece/Waste Flake/Debitage
A piece of stone with definite flake surfaces that cannot be classified as a flake or core. These artefact types are generally refuse materials discarded during the working of stone material.
Focal Platform
This is a term used to describe the shape of the platform on a flake. A focal platform is narrower than the body of the flake. Focal platform flakes are produced when flakes are struck off near the edge of the platform on a core.
Implement
A general term for tools or weapons made by people.
Lithic
Anything made of stone.
Microlith
Small (1 to 3 cm long) stone tools with evidence of retouch. Includes 'Bondi Points' segment, scrapers, backed blades, triangle and trapezoid.
Mortar
The lower stone associated with grinding plants for food and medicine and/or ochre for painting. These stones are usually large and flat, and when well-used show deep grooves from repeated grinding.
Pestle
The "upper stone", used to grind plants for food and medicine and/or ochre for painting. A pestle stone often doubles as a hammer stone and/or anvil.
Primary Flake
The first flakes struck off a core in order to create a platform from which other flakes can then be struck.
Secondary Flaking/Retouch
Secondary working of a stone artefact after its manufacture. This was often done to resharpen stone tools after use, or in the production of formal tool types such as blade flakes and scrapers.
Scraper
A tool used for scraping.
Tools
Artefacts that have been designed for a specific purpose.
Other Terms
Archaeological Site
A place/location of either Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal origin. Aboriginal archaeological sites have been formed prior to the European settlement of Australia, and may be in any of the forms outlined in section 1.
Post-Contact Aboriginal Site
Also referred to as a Historic Aboriginal Site. These area sites/places/localities that indicate contact has been made with European culture during the period of initial European settlement (glass in tool assemblage, massacre sites), or where activities culturally significant to Aboriginal people has occurred (camping, employment, travelling routes).
B.P.
Before present. The 'Present' is defined as 1950.
Cultural Heritage
Something that is inherited or passed down because it is appreciated and cherished. Categories of cultural heritage include:
- Built structures and their surrounds, gardens, trees
- Cultural landscapes, sites, areas, precincts
- Cemeteries, ruins and archaeological sites
- Shipwrecks
- Sites of important events
- Commemorative sites
- Contents of buildings and significant relics, objects artefacts and collections of objects
Cultural Landscape Integrity
The level of which the local landscape reflects the environment in which pre-Contact First Australians or early European settlers lived. The integrity includes all relevant aspects such as level and type of vegetation cover, hydrology, landforms and structures. A site located in a landscape of high cultural integrity has greater heritage value as it remains in context, and is able to impart a greater level of information to the broader community.
Ethnography
The scientific description of living cultures.
Historic Archaeological Site
These are places where non-Aboriginal activities have occurred, and which little extant (standing) features remain. The bulk of evidence for historic occupation/utilisation is comprised of remains (for example, artefacts or foundations) that are located on the ground's surface or in a sub-surface context. The primary heritage value of an archaeological site is scientific.
Historic Site
Sites/areas that contain extant (standing) remains of pre-1950 non-Aboriginal occupation. Historic sites may or may not also contain archaeological remains (Aboriginal and/or historic).
Holocene, Recent or Postglacial period
The time from the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age (c10,300 BP) to the present day.
Horizon
A term used to describe a layer of archaeological material that is in situ.
Heritage Place/Site
An area or region of land that represents a particular focus of past human activity, or that represents a concentration of in situ cultural material. A place includes any structures, buildings or works upon or integral with the land, and any artefacts or other physical relic associated with the land, or it may have no visible evidence of human activity, being rather the site of a past event of importance or the embodiment of a particular belief or legend.
Potential
Based on collated existing data and site inspection, an area or specific site may contain the potential for extant or archaeological deposits. Background research will present the most likely site types, contents and state of preservation. Relative levels of potential are described as Low (10-30% probability), Moderate (40-60% probability) and High (70% and above probability).
Obtrusiveness
Refers to how conspicuous a site is within a particular landscape, and the possibility of positive identification within a field environment. Some site types are more conspicuous than others. So, a surface stone artefact scatter is generally not obtrusive, especially in areas of low ground surface visibility, while a scarred tree is (Bird 1992).
Ordovician
The geological time period dating from 439 to 510 million years ago.
Pleistocene
The geological period corresponding with the last or Great Ice Age. The onset of the Pleistocene is marked by an increasingly cold climate, by the appearance of Calambrian mollusca and Villafranchian fauna with elephant, ox, and horse species, and by changes in foraminifera. The oldest form of man had evolved by the Early Pleistocene, and in archaeological terms the cultures classed as Paleolithic all fall in this period. The date for the start of the Pleistocene is not well established, and estimates vary from 3.5 to 1.3 million years ago. The period ends with the final but gradual retreat of the ice sheets, which reached their present conditions around 10,300 BP.
Silurian
A geological time period from 408 to 439 million years ago.
Stratigraphy
Layering
Visibility
The degree to which the surface of the ground can be observed. This may be influenced by natural processes such as wind erosion or the character of the native vegetation, and by land use practices, such as ploughing or grading. It is generally expressed in terms of the percentage of the ground's surface visible for an observer on foot (Bird 1992). For example, 10% visibility equates to 10cm2 per 1m2 of ground surface that is not covered by vegetation or soil deposit. The following applies to descriptions of ground surface visibility within this report.
0% = No visible ground surface
0 to 10% = Very Poor
10 to 30% = Poor
30 to 50% = Fair
50 to 70% = Good
70 to 90% = Very Good
90 to 100% = Excellent
Raw Material
Organic or inorganic matter that has not been processed by people.
Slope Wash
A term used to describe a specific process of re-deposition of cultural material. Cultural material (most often stone artefacts) that is situated on any sloping land is vulnerable to the affects of slope wash. The term relates to the downward movement of cultural material primarily due to erosion of their original context. This downward movement is most often caused by clearing of vegetation that exposes the ground surface to the affects of water erosion. The result is that cultural material will move down the slope over a period of time. How far material may move is dependent on the gradient and the intensity of the erosion.
Use Wear
Tiny flakes or chips that have been broken of the edges of a stone artefact during use.
Maritime
Barque
Vessel with aftermost mast fore-and-aft rigged and remaining (usually two) masts square-rigged.
Brig
(abbreviation of Brigantine) Two masted square-rigged vessel, with additional lower fore-and-aft sail on gaff and boom to mainmast.
Cutter
Boat belonging to ship of war, fitted for rowing and sailing, small one-masted vessel rigged like a sloop, but with running bowsprit.
Ketch
Two-masted fore-and-aft rigged sailing boat with mizzen-mast, stepped forward of rudder.
Steamer Screw
Vessel propelled by steam - screw, revolving shaft with twisted blades projecting from ship, and propelling it by acting on screw principle.