arcy paper!

archaeologogy paper. WTH is archaeologogy. 

ARCHAEOLOGY PAPER

there we go. i was up till 2am this morning finishing this off. its due tmr morning.. and i needed to study for this other test so i made myself finish it last night haha. annnddd since i worked hard on it i shall post it here:

Tutorial paper- Australian Holocene: What is the evidence for and results of the arrival of dingoes?

The Holocene is a time period in Australian history which is associated with many changes. These changes often have a dramatic effect on the Australian ecosystem, and the evidence of these changes is apparent in the archaeological record. One such change is the arrival of the dingo. The arrival of the dingo is of great importance within the Australian Holocene as it had a marked effect on the Australian ecosystem and influenced the aboriginal culture significantly. 

The dingo, or as it is taxonomically known Canis lupis dingo, is a placental, terrestrial carnivore (Gollan 1984). It has been hypothesised that the dingo is closely related to south and south-east Asian dogs, which all descend from the Indian wolf taxonomically known as Canis lupus pallipes (Flood 1995). Thus, it follows that the dingo was most likely introduced to Australia by south-east Asian sea-fearers who kept the dingoes on board as companions or as a food source. Whilst the exact date at which the species was introduced to Australia is unknown, the evidence available on the Australian mainland indicates the time period in which this introduction occurred.

The earliest evidence regarding dingoes is found at the Madura cave site, which is located in the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia. This site is dated to 3450BP (Feder 2007). At the Mt Burr rock shelter in South Australia, dingo bone fragments have been found in the lower levels of the shelter. A date of about 7500-8500BP has been applied to the layers sandwiching this layer containing the bone fragments (Flood, 1995). However, this date has been rejected due to the presence of cracks in the upper levels of the shelter, leading to a disruption to the stratigraphical placement of fragments within that site. In essence, the bone fragments could have fallen from a ‘higher’ layer into this lower one, causing this discrepancy as to what the earliest date is regarding the dingoes existence on the Australian mainland. It is generally accepted that the dingoes first came to Australia 3500-4000 years before present, and then spread across the mainland. This idea is further supported by the abundance of dingo remains around archaeological sites all over Australia, of which many are dated to after 3000 years ago. After the dingo was introduced to Australia, it spread all over the mainland however didn’t reach Tasmania. This was because the sea levels had risen about 6000 years earlier flooding bass straight and separating Tasmania from the Australian mainland (Johnson & Wroe 2003). Thus, many of the changes which occur on the Australian mainland after the arrival of the dingoes are not evident in Tasmania.

One such change which only occurred on the Australian mainland after the arrival of the dingoes is the change in the ecosystem. The arrival of the dingoes coincided with the extinctions of three Australian faunal species: the thylacine, Tasmanian devil, and the Tasmanian native hen. Whilst the dingoes cannot be solely held responsible for these extinctions, the lack of change in abundance of these three species in Tasmania suggests that the dingoes had a significant influence in the extinctions which occurred on the mainland. In addition, within the last 8000 years, the climate has been relatively stable throughout Australia, therefore ruling out the possibility that the extinctions occurred due to climatic instability or change (Johnson & Wroe 2003). There are many hypotheses explaining as to how these three extinctions occurred, and the role that the dingo played in each of these extinctions. As there is a lack of evidence surrounding each of the hypotheses it should be noted that they aren’t definitive, but rather serve as a possible plausible explanation.

The hypothesis regarding the extinction of the thylacine stems from the belief that there was a substantial overlap in the diet of the dingo and the thylacine, thus the thylacine was outcompeted (Johnson & Wroe 2003). In addition, it has also been suggested that the dingo was a superior competitor as it possessed a complex social organisation allowing it to hunt in groups or defend resources; a skill which the thylacine lacked as a more solitary animal. Whilst these theories are mostly correct, further research has suggested that the overlap in diet was overstated; the dingo had access to a wide variety of food sources, whilst the thylacine had a more restricted diet. Consequently it seems unlikely that the dingo was the sole reason behind the depletion of the Thylacine’s food sources, but rather there was another factor. 

The Tasmanian devil fed mainly on carcasses and carrion of the large bodied fauna such as the macropods and wombats. In addition, it was able to capture smaller animals as prey (Johnson & Wroe 2003). As mentioned before, the dingoes possessed a complex social organisation, so were able to deny Tasmanian devils access to carcasses with their superior defending skills, and out compete them when capturing small prey. Furthermore, dingoes are better anatomically equipped as scavengers. For example, they can crack bones with their jaws to retrieve the marrow inside. As a result, the dingoes would have left no viable resources for the Tasmanian devils to survive on. Whilst this premise seems possible, it also has some discrepancies associated with it. As the Tasmanian devil fed predominantly on carcasses, it would make sense that the effect of the dingoes on Tasmanian devils would be greater than that on the thylacine as less energy is required to defend a carcass when compared to defending live prey. However, this is not so. Additionally the Tasmanian devil and the dingo coexisted for approximately 3000 years so it seems strange that the extinction took so long to occur.

The final animal whose extinction is associated to dingo is the Tasmanian native hen; a ground dwelling bird whose habitat is limited to being in the vicinity of a permanent water source (Johnson & Wroe 2003). The theory suggests that in the last glacial maximum, the habitat in which these birds could live contracted significantly. As a result, the hen continued to live within this contracted locality, where it became an easily acquirable food source for the dingo. Whilst this theory also seems reasonable, a problem does exist. As the hen was able to coexist with the Thylacine and Tasmanian devil for thousands of years before the arrival of the dingo, it seems strange that it couldn’t coexist with the dingo. As the dingo, thylacine and Tasmanian devil all share some similarities in their diets, it would be expected that the hen would have become extinct a lot earlier.

Each of these hypotheses offers an explanation of the role that the dingo played in the extinction of these animals. However, there is still a lot which is not accounted for. As these extinctions only occurred on the Australian mainland, the significance of the dingo in these extinctions cannot be denied. During this time, there was also a period of intensification in the use of specific food resources by the Australian people (Lourandos & Ross 1994). As a result, it is generally accepted that the extinctions of these three faunal species was a result of both dingoes and humans’ influence.

The arrival of the dingo didn’t just have a biological impact on Holocene Australia, but also seems to have had an impact on the Australian aboriginal people’s culture. Dingo burials have been found at the Werribee River site, which has been dated to 7300BP. The presence of such burials suggests a close relationship between the aboriginal people and dingoes as these animals were regarded highly enough to deserve a burial. In addition, dingo remains have been found with human burials which further reinforces this idea that the Australian aborigines shared a close relationship with the dingoes. The dingo also appears in rock art paintings, such as the painting at Kunminyini Springs in the Northern Territory. This painting portrays a woman alongside a figure which is thought to be a dingo. The presence of dingoes within these paintings supports the suggestion that the aboriginal people and dingoes shared a close relationship. Moreover, the dingoes had a significant influence on the Australian aboriginal people’s way of life. They were used as a source of warmth, and also had an important place in the rituals and mythology of the Australian Aboriginal people’s culture (Flood 1995).

The dingo is an animal which has considerable significance within the Australian Holocene. After its arrival into the country around 3500 years ago, the dingo spread all over the mainland, in habiting much of it. As the dingo had to compete with the already existing fauna, it caused significant disruptions to the already existing ecosystem. In addition, the arrival of the dingoes also had a significant impact on the Australian Aboriginal people’s culture; both as a companion in their everyday life, to finding its way into their rituals and mythology.