One archaeologist's midden is another's shell mound - vanessa ...

Western Australia
Figure 2.5: Map of Western Australia coastline with regions named in text (O’Connor 1996:166)
Prior to 1983 no published shell midden study’s for W.A. existed, leading Bowdler
(1983) to state that shell middens were apparently absent from the southwestern
Western Australian coast. A survey of the southwestern coast Figure 2.5 (Dortch et
al.1984) identified small localized shell scatters equating to one scatter for every
180 km of coastline which suggested that Bowdler’s statements may be correct.
During the following decade most sections of the southwest coast of Western
Australia were surveyed (O’Connor 1996) reconfirming Dortch et al. (1984)
findings (Figure 2.5 & Table 2.2). In the Central west and Pilbara, abundant
evidence for coastal exploitation of marine and estuarine environments was
recorded with occupation appearing from 8000 BP‐6000 BP following the marine
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