Australian Aboriginal artefacts

Short description: Cultural artefacts used by Aboriginal Australians

Aboriginal man with shield and boomerang Child asleep in wooden dish, central Australia, c.1940s

Australian Aboriginal artefacts include a variety of cultural artefacts used by Aboriginal Australians. Most Aboriginal artefacts were multi-purpose and could be used for a variety of different occupations. Spears, clubs, boomerangs and shields were used generally as weapons for hunting and in warfare. Watercraft technology artefacts in the form of dugout and bark canoes were used for transport and for fishing. Stone artefacts include cutting tools and grinding stones to hunt and make food. Coolamons and carriers such as dillybags, allowed Aboriginal peoples to carry water, food and cradle babies. Message sticks were used for communication, and ornamental artefacts for decorative and ceremonial purposes. Aboriginal children’s toys were used to both entertain and educate.

## Contents

* 1 Weapons
* 1.1 Spears
* 1.2 Clubs
* 1.3 Boomerangs
* 1.4 Shields
* 1.4.1 Findings
* 2 Watercraft
* 2.1 Bark canoes
* 2.2 Dugout canoes
* 3 Stone artefacts
* 4 Coolamons and carriers
* 4.1 Findings
* 5 Message sticks
* 5.1 Findings
* 6 Ornamental artefacts
* 6.1 Teeth ornaments
* 6.2 Bone ornaments
* 6.3 Pearl shells
* 7 Clothing
* 7.1 Possum-skin cloak
* 7.2 Buka cloak
* 7.3 Kopis
* 8 Children's toys
* 8.1 Dolls
* 8.2 Rattles
* 8.3 Bags and baskets
* 8.4 Toy spears and shields
* 8.5 Collections
* 9 Sacred items
* 10 Art
* 11 Keeping Places
* 12 See also
* 13 References
* 14 External links

## Weapons

Aboriginal peoples used several different types of weapons including shields (also known as hielaman), spears, spear-throwers, boomerangs and clubs. Peoples from different regions used different weapons.[1] Some peoples, for example, would fight with boomerangs and shields, whereas in another region they would fight with clubs. Weapons could be used both for hunting game and in warfare.[2]

Aboriginal men with spears and shields

Weapons were of different styles in different areas. For example, a shield from Central Australia is very different from a shield from North Queensland.[3]

### Spears

Aboriginal peoples used spears for a variety of purposes including hunting, fishing, gathering fruit, fighting, retribution, punishment, in ceremony, as commodities for trade, and as symbolic markers of masculinity.[4][5][6] Spears were historically used by skilful hand-throwing, but with changes in Aboriginal spear technologies during the mid-Holocene, they could be thrown further and with more accuracy with the aid of spear-thrower projectiles.[4][5] Spears could be made from a variety of materials including softwoods, bamboo (Bambusa arnhemica), cane and reed.[4] Projectile points could also be made from many different materials including flaked stone, shell, wood, kangaroo or wallaby bone, lobster claws, stingray spines, fish teeth, and more recently iron, glass and ceramics.[4][5][6][7] These spear points could be bound to the spear using mastics, glues, gum, string, plant fibre and sinews.[4][5][7]

### Clubs

An Aboriginal club, otherwise known as a waddy or nulla-nulla, could be used for a variety of purposes such as for hunting, fishing, digging, for grooving tools, warfare and in ceremonies.[8][9] A fighting club, called a ‘Lil-lil’, could, with a heavy blow, break a leg, rib or skull. Clubs which could create severe trauma were made from extremely hard woods such as acacias including ironwood and mitji.[10] Many clubs were fire hardened and others had sharpened stone quartz attached to the handle with spinifex resin.[8]

### Boomerangs

Aboriginal man with boomerang, near Yuendumu

The boomerang is recognised by many as a significant cultural symbol of Australia.[11][12] The term 'returning boomerang' is used to distinguish between ordinary boomerangs and the small percentage which, when thrown, will return to its thrower.[13][14] The oldest wooden boomerang artefact known in Australia, excavated from the Wyrie Swamp, South Australia in 1973, is estimated to be 9,500 years old.[11]

Boomerangs could be used:

* as hunting or fighting weapons;[15]
* for digging;
* as cutting knives;[16]
* for making fire by friction;[15] and
* as percussion instruments for making music.[17]

### Shields

Aboriginal shields from Ian Potter Centre

Shields were mainly used by Aboriginal warriors to defend themselves in dispute battles, often for commodities such as territory. A shield which had not lost a battle was thought to be inherently powerful and was a prized possession. Shields were made from wood or bark and usually had carved markings or painted designs. They could also be used in ceremonies such as in corroborees.[18]

Aboriginal shields come in two main types: broad shields, and parrying shields. Parrying shields parry blows from a club whereas broad shields block spears. Shields for parrying are thick, strong and narrow, whereas broad shields are wide but thin. Aboriginal shields were made from different materials in different areas, they were made from buttress root, mulga wood, and bark. A handle is attached or carved on the back and the shield was often painted with red and white patterns. Arragong and Tawarrang shields were carved of wood often with an outer layer of bark. Tawarrang shields were notably narrow and long and had patterns carved into the sides. This particular category of shield could also be used as a musical instrument when struck with a club, in addition to its use as a weapon.[19][20]

The Elemong shield is made from bark and is oval in shape. A handle is attached to the back and the shield was often painted with red and white patterns. Arragong and Tawarrang shields were carved of wood often with an outer layer of bark. Tawarrang shields were notably narrow and long and had patterns carved into the sides. This particular category of shield could also be used as a musical instrument when struck with a club, in addition to its use as a weapon.[19][20]

Shields originating from the North Queensland rainforest region are highly sought after by collectors due to their lavish decorative painting designs. These shields were made from buttress roots of rainforest fig trees (Ficus sp.) They were painted with red, yellow, white and black using natural materials including ochre, clay, charcoal and human blood. Shields from the post-contact period can, in some instances, include the colour blue. A piece of lawyer cane (Calamus australis) would be pushed up the shield owner's nose to cause bleeding. Blood would be put onto the shield, signifying their life being shared with the object. Designs on each shield were original and would represent the owners’ totemic affiliations and their country. This could be done through symbolism, composition and other means of visual representation. On the final day of a young Aboriginal man's initiation ceremony, he is given a blank shield for which he can create his own design. It was believed that the shield harnessed the power and protection of the owners totem and ancestral spirits.[21]

> The shield is a form of embodied knowledge that acts as substitute for the human body – a symbol not only of the person in his entirety but also a symbol of his expanded self, that is, his relationships with others. The shield covers the entire body, protects the body, is painted by and with the body (blood) and links the body (through totemic design) to clan..

— John Hayward, "Two rare shield depictions from the Burrungkuy rock art region of Western Arnhem Land, Australia", Australian Archaeology (2020, Aug 17)

#### Findings

Museum Collections  The Australian Museum | Aboriginal Shields from the Australian Museum collection

The Australian Museum holds one of the wooden shields originating from the Kuku Yalanji people of the Daintree Rainforest on Cape York, Queensland.[22]

|

The British Museum | One of the most significant and earliest surviving Australian Aboriginal shield artefacts is widely believed The Gweagal Shield 1770to have been collected by Captain Cook in 1770 during his first expedition (1768–71) to Australia. Known as the Gweagal shield, it is 0.97 m (3 ft 2 in) long and 0.29 m (11 in) wide and the bark has indentations on the surface, notably an obvious hole in the centre.[19] Radiographic images and scientific studies reveal that this was not a result of natural occurrences. The hole is believed, but not proven, to have been caused by a firearm during Cook’s attempt to make way to shore in April 1770.[20] The artefact was transported back to England and is now on display in the British Museum in Cabinet 96 in the Enlightenment Gallery as Oc1978, Q.839.[20][23] It is regarded as a rare item which holds deep historical, scientific and social significance for indigenous and non-indigenous people. For this reason, the shield is a part of the “A History of the World in 100 Objects” project as Object 89.[20]

## Watercraft

Aboriginal bark canoe making

Types of watercraft differed among Aboriginal communities, the most notable including bark canoes and dugout canoes which were built and used in different ways.[24] Methods of constructing canoes were passed down through word of mouth in Aboriginal communities, not written or drawn. Canoes were used for fishing, hunting and as transport.[25]

### Bark canoes

Bark canoes were most commonly made from Eucalypt species including the bark of swamp she-oak Casuarina glauca, Eucalyptus botryoides, stringybark Eucalyptus agglomerata and Eucalyptus acmenoides.[26] Bark could only be successfully extracted at the right time of a wet season in order to limit the damage to the tree's growth and so that it was flexible enough to use. The bark would be cut with axes and peeled from the tree. More than one piece of bark was sometimes used.[25] "Canoe trees" can be distinguished today due to their distinctive scars.[26] The shaping was done by a combination of heating with fire and soaking with water.[25] The ends of the bark canoe would be fastened with plant-fibre string with the bow (front of canoe) fastened to a point.[26] Branches could be used to reinforce joints; and clay, mud or other resin could be used to seal them.[24] Due to the small draft and lightness of bark canoes, they were used in calmer waters such as billabongs, rivers, lakes, estuaries and bays.[27] Aboriginal men would throw spears to catch fish from the canoe, whereas women would use hooks and lines. Bark paddles could be used to propel the canoe[26] and thick leafy branches were held to catch the wind.[27]

### Dugout canoes

Dugout canoes were a major development in watercraft technology and were suited for the open sea and in rougher conditions. They could be used for hunting dugongs and sea turtles.[27]

## Stone artefacts

Aboriginal grain grinding Stone artefacts scattered on the ground, Paroo River, Central Queensland.

Cutting tools made of stone and grinding or pounding stones were also used as everyday items by Aboriginal peoples.[28][29] Cutting tools were made by hammering a core stone into flakes.[29][30] Grinding stones can include millstones and mullers.[31] Quartzite is one of the main materials Aboriginal people used to create flakes but slate and other hard stone materials were also used.[29][32][33] Flakes can be used to create spear points and blades or knives.[29] Grindstones were used against grass seeds to make flour for bread, and to produce marrow from bones.[31]

Stone artefacts not only were used for a range of necessary activities such as hunting, but they also hold a special spiritual meaning.[34] Indigenous Australians describe a stone artefact as holding the spirit of an ancestor who once owned it.[34] 30,000-year-old grinding stones have been found at Cuddie Springs, NSW.[31] Leilira blades from Arnhem Land were collected between 1931 and 1948 and are as of 2021[update] held at the Australian Museum.[32]

## Coolamons and carriers

Coolamons are Aboriginal vessels, generally used to carry water, food, and to cradle babies.[35] Coolamons could be made from a variety of materials including wood, bark, animal skin, stems, seed stalks, stolons, leaves and hair.[36] When travelling long distances, coolamons were carried on the head. Akartne was placed underneath the coolamon to support its weight. They could be made from possum hair, feathers, or twisted grass.[35]

### Findings

Museum Collections  Australian Museum | Aboriginal Coolamons and Carriers from the Australian Museum collection

The Australian Museum holds a bark water carrying vessel originating from Flinders Island, Queensland in 1905. This coolamon is made from the bark shell of a eucalyptus tree trunk that has been burnt and smoothed with stone and shells in order to hold and store water. A water bag made from kangaroo skin was acquired by the Australian Museum in 1893. It originates from the Urania people of North-West, Queensland.[35]

|

South Australian Museum | The South Australian Museum holds a wooden coolamon collected in 1971 by Robert Edwards. The British Museum holds a bark water carrying vessel originating from the Worrorra in the Kimberley, North-Western Australia.[36]

## Message sticks

Message stick

Message sticks, also known as "talking-sticks", were used in Aboriginal communities to communicate invitations, declarations of war, news of death and so forth.[37][38] They were made of wood and were usually flat with motifs engraved on all sides to express a message. The type of wood and shape of a message stick could be a part of the message. Special messengers would carry message sticks over long distances and were able to travel through tribal borders without harm. After the message had been received, generally the message stick would be burned.[39]

### Findings

Museum Collections  Australian Museum | Aboriginal Message Sticks from the Australian Museum collection

The Australian Museum holds 230 message sticks in its collection.[37]

|

South Australian Museum | The South Australian Museum holds 283 message sticks in its collection.[37]
British Museum | The British Museum holds 74 message sticks in its collection.[37]
National Museum of Australia | The National Museum of Australia holds 53 message sticks in its collection.[37]
Pitt Rivers Museum | The Pitt Rivers Museum holds a message stick from the 19th century made of Acacia homalophylla which originates from Queensland. Originally sent by a Yagalingu man to a Wadjalang man, it is an invitation to hunt emu and wallaby. Zig-zagged symbols carved into the wood represent ‘emu’ and the cross-hatching represent ‘wallaby’. The British Museum holds a Kalkatungu message stick, collected by Charles Handley in 1900, created to communicate the death of three children through a combination of diamond-shaped engravings.[37]

## Ornamental artefacts

Some Aboriginal peoples used materials such as teeth and bone to make ornamental objects such as necklaces and headbands.[40]

### Teeth ornaments

The most common teeth ornaments consisted of lower incisors of macropods such as kangaroos or wallabies. One of the most fascinating discoveries was a necklace made from 178 Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) teeth recovered from Lake Nitchie in New South Wales in 1969. Forehead ornaments have also been found to use porpoise and dolphin teeth from the Gulf of Carpentaria. Crocodile teeth were used mainly in Arnhem Land.[40]

### Bone ornaments

Bones were often used for ornamental purposes, especially necklaces and pendants. These were usually worn in association with ritual or age status but could also be worn casually. Bone ornaments found from Boulia in central western Queensland were made from the phalanges of kangaroos and dingoes. Branchiostegal rays of eels from the Tully River were used as pendant units by the Gulngay people. In western Victoria, echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus) quills were threaded as necklaces. A pendant made from goose down, shells, a duck beak and the upper beak of a black swan was discovered from the Murray River in South Australia. Talons of eagles were incorporated into ornaments among the Arrernte of Central Australia. Wombat (Vombatus ursinus) claw necklaces are known from Victoria.[40] Painted requiem shark vertebrae necklaces have been found in western Arnhem Land.[41]

### Pearl shells

Riji are the pearl shells traditionally worn by Aboriginal men in the north-west part of Australia, around present day Broome. The word riji is from the Bardi language. Another word for it is jakuli. Before being decorated, the pearl shell is known as guwan. Lines known as ramu, often in a sacred pattern or depicting a traditional story, are carved onto the guwan, at which point it becomes a riji. Ochre is sometimes applied to the incisions, for colour. Riji are associated with water, as well as spiritual or healing powers, and life.[42]

## Clothing

### Possum-skin cloak

### Buka cloak

### Kopis

The Kopi mourning cap is an item of headware made from clay, worn by mostly womenfolk of some Aboriginal peoples, for up to six months after the death of a loved one. After cutting off their hair, they would weave a net using sinews from emu, place this on their head, and cover it with layers of gypsum, a type of white clay obtained from rivers. They could be heavy (up to 7 kg (15 lb)), and were sometimes worn by men.[43] When the mourning period was over, the Kopi would be placed on the grave of the deceased person.[44]

Other names for the Kopi were widow's cap, korno, mulya, mung-warro, pa-ta, and yúgarda.[44]

## Children's toys

Children's toys made by Aboriginal peoples were not only to entertain but also to educate.[45] Toys were made from different materials depending on location and materials available.[46]

### Dolls

"Dolls" could be made from cassia nemophila, with its branches assembled with string and grass. Features were often painted with clay to represent a baby.[47] Dolls made from Xanthorrhoea are called Kamma dolls and are from Keppel Island. Shell dolls could also be made from conical shells and were often wrapped in fabric to distinguish age or status.[48][40]

### Rattles

Rattles could be made out of a variety of different materials which would depend on geographical accessibility. For example, they could be made out of land snail shells, sea snail shells (Haliotis asinina), valves of scallop (Annachlamys flabellata), walnut seeds or olive shells which were strung together with string or hair and were often painted.[47][49][40]

### Bags and baskets

In Arnhem Land, the Gulf region of Queensland and Cape York, children’s bags and baskets were made from fibre twine.[47]

### Toy spears and shields

Play spears, which were often blunt wooden spears, were used by boys in mock battles and throwing games.[50]

### Collections

Museum Collections  Australian Museum | 370 toys collected between 1885 and 1990 are currently held at the Australian Museum.[46] In 1899 Walter Roth found and collected three rattles (Strombus campbelli, Cyroea subviridis and Arca pilula) from Mapoon, Batavia River and Cape York Peninsula. Three dolls made of curved stick and fabric date back to the early 1900s from North Queensland.[48]

|

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery | Three wooden dolls from Mornington Island are held by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.[47]

## Sacred items

## Art

Most Aboriginal art is not considered artefact, but often the designs in Aboriginal art are similar designs to those originally on sacred artefacts.[51][52]

## Keeping Places

A Keeping Place (usually capitalised) is an Aboriginal community-managed place for the safekeeping of repatriated cultural material[53] or local cultural heritage items, cultural artefacts, art and/or knowledge.[54][55] Krowathunkooloong Keeping Place in Gippsland, Victoria is one example of a Keeping Place.[56] In Western Australia there is a collaboratively developed and managed online system for managing cultural heritage known as The Keeping Place Project.[57]

## See also

* Australian Aboriginal culture
* Indigenous Collection (Miles District Historical Village)
* Lizard Island#Mangrove Beach, a 2024 pottery finding

## References

1. ↑ Aboriginal Australia. Cooper, Carol., National Gallery of Victoria., Australian Gallery Directors' Council.. Sydney: Australian Gallery Directors Council. 1981. ISBN 0-642-89689-5. OCLC 8487510.
2. ↑ "Aboriginal weapon Spear throwers". 29 August 2017. https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/aboriginal-weapons/#:~:text=These are spears, spear throwers,and clubs were for warfare..
3. ↑ "aboriginal weapons | Aborigines weapons | sell aboriginal weapons" (in en-US). 2017-08-29. https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/aboriginal-weapons/.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Allen, H; Akerman, K (2015). "Innovation and change in northern Australian Aboriginal spear technologies: the case for reed spears". Archaeology in Oceania 50: 83–93. doi:10.1002/arco.5051.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Nugent, S (2015). "Sticks and stones: a functional analysis of Aboriginal spears from Northern Australia". The University of Queensland.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Akerman, Kim; Fullagar, Richard; van Gijn, Annelou (2002). "Weapons and Wunan: Production, Function and Exchange of Kimberley Points". Australian Aboriginal Studies 2002 (1): 13–42.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Attenbrow, Val. "Fishing spears, callarr, mooting". https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/sydney/fishing-spears-callarr-mooting/.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Weapons". MBANTUA. https://mbantua.com.au/weapons/.
9. ↑ "nulla nulla". Victorian Collections. https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/51bbc5692162ef16005cf3a8.
10. ↑ Westaway, Michael; Williams, Douglas; Wright, Richard; Wood, Rachel; Olley, Jon; Swift, Jaime; Martin, Sarah; Kemp, Justine et al. (2016). "The death of Kaakutja: A case of peri-mortem weapon trauma in an Aboriginal man from north-western New South Wales, Australia". Antiquity 90 (353): 1318–1333. doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.173.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Earliest evidence of the boomerang in Australia". https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/earliest-evidence-of-the-boomerang-in-australia#:~:text=A 23,000-year-old mammoth,to about 10,000 years ago..
12. ↑ Jones, Philip (1996). Boomerang: behind an Australian icon. Wakefield press. ISBN 978-1862543829.
13. ↑ Akira, Azuma; Beppu, Goro; Ishikawa, Hiroaki; Yasuda, Kunio (2004). "Flight dynamics of the boomerang, part 1: fundamental analysis". Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics 27 (4): 545–554. doi:10.2514/1.11157. Bibcode: 2004JGCD...27..545A.
14. ↑ Sutherland, Davidson (1935). "Is the boomerang oriental?". Journal of the American Oriental Society 55 (2): 163–181. doi:10.2307/594439.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Aboriginal Weapons". https://www.mbantua.com.au/aboriginal-weapons/.
16. ↑ "Hunting Boomerang: a Weapon of Choice – Australian Museum" (in en). https://australianmuseum.net.au/hunting-boomerang-a-weapon-of-choice.
17. ↑ "Aboriginal Weapons and Tools". http://austhrutime.com/weapons.htm.
18. ↑ "Australian Aboriginal Shields". Australian Museum. https://joyofmuseums.com/museums/australasia-museums/australian-museums/museums-of-sydney/australian-museum/australian-aboriginal-shields/#:~:text=Australian Aboriginal Shields were made,black design using natural pigments..
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Attenbrow, V; Cartwright, C (2014). "An Aboriginal shield collected in 1770 at Kamay Botany Bay: an indicator of pre-colonial exchange systems in south-eastern Australia.". Antiquity 88 (341): 833–895. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00050754.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 Nugent, M; Sculthorpe, G (2018). "A Shield Loaded with History: Encounters, Objects and Exhibitions". Australian Historical Studies 1: 28–43. doi:10.1080/1031461X.2017.1408663. https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2017.1408663. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
21. ↑ Hayward, A (2020). "Two rare shield depictions from the Burrungkuy rock art region of Western Arnhem Land, Australia". Australian Archaeology 86 (3): 253–263. doi:10.1080/03122417.2020.1812796.
22. ↑ "Wooden Shield from Cape York, c1893". https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/australian-archaeology/wooden-shield-from-cape-york-c1893/.
23. ↑ Hurley, W (2020). "Reports, silences and repercussion: wondering about the ballistic biography of the Leichhardt gunplate". Rethinking History 4 (3–4): 543–560. doi:10.1080/13642529.2020.1845536.
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Gapps, S; Smith, M. "Nawi – exploring Australia's Indigenous watercraft". AlterNative 2: 87–102.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Payne, David. "Indigenous Watercraft of Australia". http://arhv.anmm.gov.au/people/11358.
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Wheeler, Helen. "Bark canoe from New South Wales". https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/cultural-objects/indigenous-bark-canoe-from-new-south-wales/.
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Bradley, J (1991). "Yanyuwa bark canoes: A brief survey of their use by the Yanyuwa people of the south western Gulf of Carpentaria". Great Circle 2: 85–96.
28. ↑ Hayes, E; Fullagar, R; Mulvaney, K; Connell, K (2018). "Food or fibercraft? Grinding stones and Aboriginal use of Triodia grass (spinifex).". Quaternary International 468: 271–283. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.08.010. Bibcode: 2018QuInt.468..271H. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.08.010. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 Holdaway, Simon; Douglass, Matthew (2012). "A Twenty-First Century Archaeology of Stone Artifacts". Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 19 (1): 101–131. doi:10.1007/s10816-011-9103-6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-011-9103-6. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
30. ↑ McLaren, Andrew; Oakes, G; Atkinson, L; Jordan, D; Toms, P (2018). "Mid-to-Late Holocene Aboriginal Flakednoah Stone Artefact Technology on the Cumberland Plain, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia: A View from the South Creek Catchment". Lithic Technology 43 (4): 202–227. doi:10.1080/01977261.2018.1497116. https://doi.org/10.1080/01977261.2018.1497116. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 "Grindstones". https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/cultural-objects/grindstones/.
32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 "Leilira blades from Arnhem Land". https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/cultural-objects/leilira-blades-from-arnhem-land/.
33. ↑ Law, W; Slack, M (2020). "The Story is in the Rocks: How Stone Artifact Scatters can Inform our Understanding of Ancient Aboriginal Stone Arrangement Functions". Journal of Field Archaeology 45 (2): 106–119. doi:10.1080/00934690.2019.1697018. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2019.1697018. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Brown, Steve (2019). "Aboriginal stone artefacts and Country: dynamism, new meanings, theory, and heritage". Australian Archaeology 85 (3): 256–266. doi:10.1080/03122417.2019.1738667. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2019.1738667. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 "Australian Aboriginal Carrying Vessels – Coolamons". https://joyofmuseums.com/museums/australasia-museums/australian-museums/museums-of-sydney/australian-museum/coolamons-aboriginal-carrying-vessel/.
36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Pitman, H; Wallis, L (2012). "The Point of Spinifex: Aboriginal uses of spinifex grasses in Australia". Ethnobotany Research and Applications 10: 109–131. doi:10.17348/era.10.0.109-131.
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 37.3 37.4 37.5 Kelly, Piers (2020). "Australian message sticks: Old questions, new directions". Journal of Material Culture 25 (2): 133–152. doi:10.1177/1359183519858375. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183519858375. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
38. ↑ Matthews, Henry (1897). "Message-Sticks Used by the Aborigines of Australia". American Anthropologist 10: 288–298.
39. ↑ "Message Stick". Culture Victoria. https://cv.vic.gov.au/stories/aboriginal-culture/the-aboriginal-object-collection-at-dunkeld-museum/message-stick/message-stick-1/.
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 40.3 40.4 Akerman, K (2018). "The esoteric and decorative use of bone, shell, and teeth in Australia.". The Archaeology of Portable Art. pp. 199–219. doi:10.4324/9781315299112-13. ISBN 978-1-315-29911-2. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315299112-13. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
41. ↑ Wright, Duncan; Langley, Michelle; May, Sally; Johnston, Iain; Allen, Lindy (2016). "Painted shark vertebrae beads from the Djawumbu–Madjawarrnja complex, western Arnhem Land". Australian Archaeology 82: 43–54. doi:10.1080/03122417.2016.1164356. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2016.1164356. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
42. ↑ "Guwan". 2016. http://museum.wa.gov.au/explore/lustre-online-text-panels/guwan.
43. ↑ "Kopi Workshop – Building an understanding of grief from an Indigenous cultural perspective". 11 February 2017. https://www.maas.museum/event/kopi/.
44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 "Mourning - Indigenous Australia". 22 November 2018. https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/death-the-last-taboo/mourning-indigenous-australia/.
45. ↑ Dender, A; Stagnitti, K (2015). "Children's play in the Australian Indigenous context: the need for a contemporary view". International Journal of Play 1: 3–16. doi:10.1080/21594937.2014.977036. https://doi.org/10.1080/21594937.2014.977036. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Fisher, Rebecca. "Aboriginal Toys". https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/aboriginal-toys/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwutaCBhDfARIsAJHWnHunPBsQYM6o0-evWa-9ycw6re-DoN6LTUjOwP_4lOiCRoVfWdLd4sgaArHQEALw_wcB.
47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 47.2 47.3 Haagen, C (1994). Bush toys: Aboriginal children at play. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.
48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 "Dolls". https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/aboriginal-toys/indigenous-australian-dolls.
49. ↑ "Rattles". https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/aboriginal-toys/toys-for-infants/.
50. ↑ "Toy spears, spearthrowers and targets". https://australian.museum/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/aboriginal-toys/toy-spears-general/.
51. ↑ Bardon, Geoff, 1940- (2004). Papunya : a place made after the story : the beginnings of the Western Desert painting movement. Bardon, James.. Carlton, Vic.: Miegunyah Press. ISBN 0-522-85110-X. OCLC 59098931.
52. ↑ "Aboriginal Dot Art | sell Aboriginal Dot Art | meaning dots in Aboriginal Art". 2018-11-28. https://www.aboriginal-bark-paintings.com/aboriginal-dot-art/.
53. ↑ Museums & Galleries NSW (2010–2011). "Keeping Places & Beyond: A reader". https://mgnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/keeping_places_and_beyondnew2.pdf.
54. ↑ "The Aboriginal Heritage Museum and Keeping Place". 18 August 2011. https://www.aboriginalheritage.org/museum/.
55. ↑ Merkell, Helen (3 February 2016). "Aboriginal historian calls for 'Keeping Places' in NSW centres". https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-03/aboriginal-historian-calls-for-keeping-places-in-nsw-centres/7135714.
56. ↑ "Krowathunkooloong Keeping Place". https://www.gegac.org.au/keepingplace/.
57. ↑ "The Keeping Place Project". Australian Government. 22 January 2020. https://www.ilsc.gov.au/home/project-profiles/the-keeping-place-project/.

## External links

* Aboriginal art
* Didgeridoo art
* Aboriginal artifacts.

* v
* t
* e

Prehistoric technology

* Prehistory
* Timeline
* Outline
* Stone Age
* Subdivisions
* New Stone Age
* Technology
* history
* Glossary

Tools

| Farming|

* Neolithic Revolution
* Founder crops
* New World crops
* Ard / plough
* Celt
* Digging stick
* Domestication
* Goad
* Irrigation
* Secondary products
* Sickle
* Terracing

|

Food processing
(Paleolithic diet)|

* Fire
* Basket
* Cooking
* Earth oven
* Granaries
* Grinding slab
* Ground stone
* Hearth
* Aşıklı Höyük
* Qesem cave
* Manos
* Metate
* Mortar and pestle
* Pottery
* Quern-stone
* Storage pits

Hunting|

* Arrow
* Boomerang
* throwing stick
* Bow and arrow
* history
* Nets
* Spear
* spear-thrower
* baton
* harpoon
* Schöningen
* woomera

Projectile points|

* Arrowhead
* Transverse
* Bare Island
* Cascade
* Clovis
* Cresswell
* Cumberland
* Eden
* Folsom
* Lamoka
* Manis Mastodon
* Plano

Systems|

* Game drive system
* Buffalo jump

Toolmaking|

* Earliest toolmaking
* Oldowan
* Acheulean
* Mousterian
* Aurignacian
* Clovis culture
* Cupstone
* Fire hardening
* Gravettian culture
* Hafting
* Hand axe
* Grooves
* Langdale axe industry
* Levallois technique
* Lithic core
* Lithic reduction
* analysis
* debitage
* flake
* Lithic technology
* Magdalenian culture
* Metallurgy
* Microblade technology
* Mining
* Prepared-core technique
* Solutrean industry
* Striking platform
* Tool stone
* Uniface
* Yubetsu technique

Other tools|

* Adze
* Awl
* bone
* Axe
* Bannerstone
* Blade
* prismatic
* Bone tool
* Bow drill
* Burin
* Canoe
* Oar
* Pesse canoe
* Chopper
* tool
* Cleaver
* Denticulate tool
* Fire plough
* Fire-saw
* Hammerstone
* Knife
* Microlith
* Quern-stone
* Racloir
* Rope
* Scraper
* side
* Stone tool
* Tally stick
* Weapons
* Wheel
* illustration

Architecture

| Ceremonial|

* Kiva
* Pyramid
* Standing stones
* megalith
* row
* Stonehenge

|

Dwellings|

* Neolithic architecture
* long house
* British megalith architecture
* Nordic megalith architecture
* Burdei
* Cave
* Cliff dwelling
* Dugout
* Hut
* Quiggly hole
* Jacal
* Longhouse
* Mudbrick
* Mehrgarh
* Pit-house
* Pueblitos
* Pueblo
* Rock shelter
* Blombos Cave
* Abri de la Madeleine
* Sibudu Cave
* Roundhouse
* Stilt house
* Alp pile dwellings
* Stone roof
* Wattle and daub

Water management|

* Check dam
* Cistern
* Flush toilet
* Reservoir
* Well

Other architecture|

* Archaeological features
* Broch
* Burnt mound
* fulacht fiadh
* Causewayed enclosure
* Tor enclosure
* Circular enclosure
* Goseck
* Cursus
* Henge
* Thornborough
* Megalithic architectural elements
* Midden
* Oldest extant buildings
* Timber circle
* Timber trackway
* Sweet Track

Arts and culture

| Material goods|

* Baskets
* Beadwork
* Beds
* Chalcolithic
* Clothing/textiles
* timeline
* Cosmetics
* Glue
* Hides
* shoes
* Ötzi
* Jewelry
* amber use
* Mirrors
* Pottery
* Cardium
* Cord-marked
* Grooved ware
* Jōmon
* Linear
* Unstan ware
* Sewing needle
* Weaving
* Wine
* winery
* wine press

|

Prehistoric art|

* Art of the Upper Paleolithic
* Art of the Middle Paleolithic
* Blombos Cave
* List of Stone Age art
* Bird stone
* Cairn
* Carved stone balls
* Cave paintings
* Cup and ring mark
* Geoglyph
* Hill figure
* Golden hats
* Guardian stones
* Gwion Gwion rock paintings
* painting
* pigment
* Megalithic art
* Petroform
* Petroglyph
* Petrosomatoglyph
* Pictogram
* Rock art
* Rock cupule
* Stone carving
* Sculpture
* Statue menhir
* Stone circle
* list
* British Isles and Brittany
* Venus figurine

Prehistoric music|

* Evolutionary musicology
* music archaeology
* Alligator drum
* Paleolithic flute
* Divje Babe flute
* Gudi

Prehistoric religion|

* Evolutionary origin of religion
* Paleolithic religion
* Spiritual drug use

Burial|

* Burial mounds
* Bowl barrow
* Round barrow
* Mound Builders culture
* U.S. sites
* Chamber tomb
* Cotswold-Severn
* Cist
* Dartmoor kistvaens
* Clava cairn
* Court cairn
* Cremation
* Dolmen
* Great dolmen
* Funeral pyre
* Gallery grave
* transepted
* wedge-shaped
* Grave goods
* Jar burial
* Kuyavian long barrows
* Long barrow
* unchambered
* Grønsalen
* Megalithic tomb
* Mummy
* Passage grave
* Rectangular dolmen
* Ring cairn
* Simple dolmen
* Stone box grave
* Tor cairn
* Unchambered long cairn

Other cultural|

* Archaeoastronomy
* sites
* lunar calendar
* Behavioral modernity
* Origin of language
* Prehistoric counting
* Prehistoric medicine
* trepanning
* Prehistoric warfare
* Symbols
* symbolism

* v
* t
* e

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders

Peoples|

* Aboriginal Australians
* Blackfellas
* Communities
* Aboriginal groups
* Half-caste (deprecated term)
* Tasmanians
* Torres Strait Islanders
* Victorians
* Western Australians

Individuals|

* Activists
* Musicians
* People from politics and public service
* Performing artists
* Sportspeople
* Visual artists
* Writers

Culture|

* Astronomy
* Avoidance
* Bora
* Corroboree
* Deadly Awards
* Deities
* Dreamtime
* Enumeration
* Elders
* Flags
* Aboriginal
* Torres Strait Islander
* Kinship
* Kurdaitcha
* Literature of Indigenous Australians
* Marn Grook
* Message stick
* NAIDOC Week
* National Indigenous Human Rights Awards
* Outstation movement
* Religion and mythology
* Riji
* Seasons
* Sacred sites
* Smoking ceremony
* Songlines
* Tjurunga
* Torres Strait Islands
* Woggabaliri

Languages|

* Avoidance speech
* Australian Aboriginal English
* Macro-Gunwinyguan languages
* Australian Creole
* Language groups
* Loanwords into English
* Palawa
* Pama–Nyungan languages
* Placenames
* Sign languages
* Torres Strait English
* Torres Strait Island languages

Organisations|

* ATSIC
* Aboriginal Medical Service
* Aborigines Advancement League
* Aborigines Progressive Association
* AIATSIS
* Australian Aboriginal Progress Association
* Australian Aborigines' League
* Central Land Council
* Media
* National Congress of Australia's First Peoples
* National Indigenous Council
* Northern Land Council
* Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations
* Politics
* Reconciliation Australia
* Sorry Day
* TSRA

Bushcraft|

* Boomerang
* Buka
* Bush bread
* Bush tucker
* Bush medicine
* Coolamon
* Dugout canoe
* Fibrecraft
* Fire-stick farming
* Food groups
* Humpy
* Possum-skin cloak
* Scarred tree
* Soaks
* Spinifex resin
* Sweet foods
* Waddy
* Woomera

Arts|

* Artifacts
* Bark painting
* Contemporary visual art
* Dance
* Didgeridoo
* Dreaming
* Music
* Music groups
* Rock
* NATSIA Award
* Papunya Tula
* Sandpainting
* Vibe
* Visual art
* Yininmadyemi

History|

* Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976
* Australian Frontier Wars
* Bathurst War
* Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars
* Caledon Bay crisis
* Cummeragunja walk-off
* Day of Mourning
* Gurindji Strike
* Historical figures
* History
* Prehistory
* History wars
* King plates
* Massacres
* Black War
* Missions
* Native police
* Pilbara strike
* Pintupi Nine
* Stolen Generations
* Apology
* Tent embassy
* Western Australia

Issues|

* Crime
* Health
* Land rights
* Native title
* Protected Area
* Media portrayal
* Northern Territory National Emergency Response
* Self-determination
* Stolen Generations
* Half-Caste Act
* Treaties
* Voting rights
* 1967 Referendum

0.00

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