Mortimer, 1996:

Site Location

"Archaeological surveys in the GBRMP have shown that offshore islands have a relatively high density of sites and in fact contain most site types.  For example, Rowland (1980, 1981, 1982a, 1982b) established, that every island in the Keppel group contains archaeological sites.  Additionally, throughout the GBRMP the site type that have been recorded include shell midden/mounds, fish traps, rockshelters, stone quarries, rock art sites, hearth/oven sites and stone artefact scatters.  O'Connor (1989) has expressed that an important factor influencing site location is the topography of the islands themselves.  Sites are expected to commonly occur on or near environmental boundaries, (ecotones), presumably as a variety of resources can be exploited from a single location.  Rowland found from his work in the Keppel's that most sites occur around the coastline in the dune systems (1980, 1981, 1982a, 1982b).  Rowland (1992a) has also indicated that island size and the availability of water and other economic resources are the main factors affecting the distribution of archaeological sites.  There is demonstrable bias, however, in where archaeological surveys have been carried out on islands.  The focus on the coastal strip obviously results in the number of sites found there being higher than the less surveyed interior of the islands.  The lack of extensive survey in the interior of the islands has occured for a number of reasons; being time, person power, money and, as Bird (pers. comm) has expressed, the dense vegetation is often just not negotiable."

Conclusions

"Current archaeological data show that a complete range of site types exist in the GBRMP.  It appears that economic factors play an important part in determining both the distribution and characteristics of sites.  A review of the archaeological data suggests that there are many significant archaeological sites in the GBRMP.  Further research however, is required to assess the extent more fully."

Citation and/or URL

Mortimer, K. (1996). The protection and management of Indigenous archaeological sites in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.  Honours Thesis, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, James Cook University.

Spatial Coverage

Great Barrier Reef

Temporal Coverage

1996

Update Frequency

Not applicable 

Other Information

None