WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

Analyses of the botanical remains recovered from Carpenters Gap 1 indicates long
term shifts in flora composition with changes in the climate, and provides evidence
that much of the macroscopic plant remains were deposited by Aboriginal plant food
procuring activities (McConnell 1997; McConnell and O'Connor 1997, 1999). In
support of this view, Wallis (2001) points to the selective burning patterns on some
plant remains; the lack of rodent gnaw marks on seeds; the fact that most of the plant
remains are culturally useful; and a botanic trapping exercise carried out at the shelter
that did not show significant botanic deposition by animal, wind or water action.
Grasses constitute about 50 per cent of the overall phytolith (microscopic bits of silica
stored in plant structures) assemblage throughout the Carpenter's Gap 1 sequence. The
grassland communities of 40,000 years BP appear to be similar to those seen in the
area today. Around 33,000 years BP, there was a reduction in the grass species
diversity, perhaps due to decreasing temperatures and water availability. Interestingly,
there are no obvious changes to these grassland communities through the last glacial
maximum. From about 17,000 years BP there is again an increase in grass species
diversity (Wallis 2001).
While there are no palm species growing in the Napier Range today, 40,000 years ago
the palms Livistona loriphylla and L. victoriae were present in considerable
abundance. This continued up until about 30,000 years BP, after which the palms
survived in smaller numbers until just prior to the last glacial maximum, when they
disappear from the record. Palms require a permanent water source to survive, and in
the Kimberley today they are commonly found on the edges of vine thickets and in
sheltered gorges and gullies along more northerly ranges (Kenneally et. al. 1996). As
climatic conditions deteriorated, i.e. got drier with the approach of the last glacial
maximum, the palms contracted to smaller areas and the southerly boundary of their
distribution moved northwards.
Also of interest are the sedge (Cyperaceae) remains. Macroscopic stem fragments
have been recovered from most levels of the site, except the uppermost Holocene
levels. Ethnographic evidence of the use of sedges by Aboriginal people as a late dry
season food source (Crawford 1982; Smith and Kalotas 1985), Wallis (2001) suggests
that these large pieces of sedge were culturally deposited.
The palaeobotanical record indicates that the Aboriginal inhabitants of Carpenter's
Gap 1 did not abandon this region during the last glacial maximum, but instead
adapted their survival strategies to cope with the changes. Other Pleistocene sites in
the Kimberley show a hiatus in occupation during the last glacial maximum (Riwi:
Balme 2000; Widgingarri and Koolan Island: O'Connor 1995, 1996, 1999).
Evidence of Pleistocene occupation occurs elsewhere in the Australian archaeological
record. Occupation sites from around the continent with dates of around 40,000 years
include: Puritjarra in central Australia (39,000 BP: Smith et al. 1997); Allen's Cave in
South Australia (40,000 BP: Roberts et al. 1996); Willandra Lakes in New South
Wales (46,000 to 50,000 BP: Bowler et al. 2003); GRE8/Lawn Hill in Queensland
(41,500 BP: O'Connell and Allen 2004); and Devil's Lair in southwest Western
Australia (41,000 to 46,000 BP: Turney et al. 2001).
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