New approaches to open site spatial archaeology in Sturt National Park, New South Wales, Australia

TLDR

Surface scatters of stone artefacts are ubiquitous in the Australian landscape and form the basis for the majority of archaeological conservation decisions. The study proposes a distributional approach that treats each artefact as the minimal recording unit rather than a site, enabling spatial analysis of assemblage composition. The method records all stone artefacts >20 mm in 3‑D space, defines assemblages, and compares their distribution to landform characteristics using GIS at TIB 13, Sturt National Park. Analysis shows significant differences in assemblage composition across roughly 30,000 m².

Abstract

Abstract Surface scatters of stone artefacts are ubiquitous in the Australian landscape and form the basis for the majority of archaeological conservation decisions. The research reported here proposes a distributional approach for analysing this record founded on the artefact as the minimal recording unit rather than the site. A method of assemblage definition is proposed to permit the study of assemblage composition across space. The method is applied to artefacts exposed on the surface as a result of recent erosion at TIB 13 (Sturt National Park, NSW). All stone artefacts greater than 20mm in maximum dimension were recorded by locating each artefact in three‐dimensional space and analysing it in place. The distribution of these artefacts was then compared to the nature of the landform on which they rested through the use of a GIS. Analysis of assemblage composition indicates significant differences across an area of approximately 30,000m 2 .