Review of "Changing perspectives in Australian archaeology: papers in honour of Val Attenbrow" edited by Jim Specht and Robin Torrence, Technical Reports of the Australian Museum, Online 23 (2011)

Abstract

Unlike many edited festschrifts which tend to be eclectic affairs, the contributions to Changing Perspectives in Australian Archaeology coalesce around two major themes mirroring those that have underpinned Val Attenbrow's extraordinary contribution to Australian archaeology. First is an attention to detail and careful scholarship to reveal new details about the past. Second is the use of multiple (and often novel) analyses and approaches to tease out the factors underpinning assemblage variability. Contributors pick up on many aspects of Val's work, including documenting variability in stone artefact assemblages, adopting landscape approaches and, of course, exploring the meaning of change itself.