Hay Cave: a 30,000-year cultural sequence from the Mitchell-Palmer limestone zone, north Queensland, Australia

Abstract

Hay Cave is one of many limestone caves in the tropical Mitchell-Palmer area of north Queensland. Archaeologically, its major significance is a lengthy, more than 30,000 year-long, cultural sequence, with good preservation of faunal remains as well as stone artefacts and an abundance of rock art. Thus, it offers the opportunity to investigate long-term local archaeological trends in one site and to compare these with regional trends obtained from a wider range of sites throughout this archaeologically rich area (David and Lourandos 1997). How can these long-term cultural trends be characterised from an individual site? In what ways do they reflect wider regional trends and patterns? How do they compare with palaeoenvironmental trends? And, at a more general level, how can we connect different spatial scales of investigation (the local or site-specific and the regional) when seeking to explore long-term cultural trends? These were the questions guiding the research.