Radiocarbon and cultural chronologies in southeast Queensland prehistory

Abstract

In this paper we present an overview of the radiocarbon chronology of pre-European Aboriginal occupation of southeast Queensland. Analysis of these data provides the basis for evaluating cultural chronologies proposed for southeast Queensland which emphasise time-lags between sea-level stabilisation and permanent occupation of the coast and late prehistoric structural change in settlement and subsistence strategies linked to intensifying regional social alliance networks. This synthesis of the radiocarbon chronology demonstrates that significant increases in the number of occupied sites and the rate of site establishment does not occur until after 1,200 cal BP, and is restricted to the coastal strip. While sea-level change may have significantly influenced the representation of earlier sites, the pattern over the last 1,000 years cannot be explained solely in terms of differential preservation due to geomorphological processes. While these results indicate significant structural change in the archaeological record of southeast Queensland in the late Holocene, the nature of that change requires closer examination through further detailed studies of local and regional patterns.