Reconstructing archaeological palaeolandscapes using geophysical and geomatic survey techniques: An example from Red Lily Lagoon, Arnhem Land, Australia

Jarrad Kowlessar; Ian Moffat; Daryl Wesley; Mark Willis; Shay Wrigglesworth; Tristen Jones; Alfred Nayinggul; Njanjma Rangers

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0283006

Reconstructing archaeological palaeolandscapes using geophysical and geomatic survey techniques: An example from Red Lily Lagoon, Arnhem Land, Australia

PLoS One. 2023 May 4;18(5):e0283006. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283006. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jarrad Kowlessar¹, Ian Moffat¹, Daryl Wesley¹, Mark Willis^{1

2}, Shay Wrigglesworth^{3

4}, Tristen Jones⁵, Alfred Nayinggul³; Njanjma Rangers

Affiliations

¹ Archaeology, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia.
² Sacred Sites Research, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America.
³ Njanjma Rangers, Gunbalanya, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁴ Kakadu National Park, Jabiru, Northern Territory, Australia.
⁵ Department of Archaeology, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.

Abstract

Arnhem Land is a key region for understanding the Pleistocene colonisation of Australia, due to the presence of the oldest sites in the continent. Despite this, conventional archaeological survey has not been effective at locating additional pre-Holocene sites in the region due to a complex distribution of geomorphic units caused by sea level rise and coastal aggradation. This research uses geophysical and geomatic techniques to map the subsurface distribution of the geomorphic units in the Red Lily Lagoon region in eastern Arnhem Land. This reveals a complex Pleistocene landscape, which offers the potential to locate additional archaeological sites and so reveal more about the lifeways of the earliest Australians.

Copyright: © 2023 Kowlessar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Archaeology / methods
Australia
Humans
Lilium*
Sea Level Rise

Grants and funding

JK is the recipient of a Flinders University Postgraduate Scholarship (flinders.edu.au). IM is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career award (project number DE160100703, arc.gov.au) funded by the Australian Government, a George Chaloupka Fellowship from the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (magnet.net.au) and a Flinders University Early Career Researchers Award (flinders.edu.au). DW is the recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career award (project number DE170101447, arc.gov.au) funded by the Australian Government and a George Chaloupka Fellowship from the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (magnet.net.au). TJ is the recipient of a George Chaloupka Fellowship from the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (magnet.net.au). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.