The Aboriginal peopling of New England - What did Aboriginal life look like in New England 40,000 years ago?

Over c48,000 years, Tableland lagoons such as Little Llangothlin have provided a potential resource for Aboriginal people. This is the fourth in a series on the Aboriginal peopling of New England drawn from the introductory course I have been running on New England's history.

In my last column I suggested that while we had no direct archaeological evidence, the pattern of archaeological dates across Sahul suggested that first Aboriginal occupation of the broader New England may have taken place around 40,000 years ago.

Given the present absence of archaeological evidence, what might this occupation have looked like? To start answering this question, we need to start with New England’s geography.

In the east, the coastline as we know it today with its rich estuarine and marine resources did not exist and would not do so for another 34,000 years.

Sea levels were 60 metres lower than present. Because the continental shelf in this part of Australia is generally relatively narrow and steep sloping, the land revealed by the lower waters was often rugged, falling away to the then coastline,

The rivers from the Tablelands that now meander to the sea would have been faster flowing, their courses straighter with smaller estuaries. However, while the coastal environment was not as rich as it would later be, the combination of coastal, riverine and land environments would have been sufficient to support human occupation.

Inland, the Western Slopes and Plains would have been relatively well watered and potentially rich in resources. Again, it seems unlikely that the area was left vacant.

Further force is provided to this tentative conclusion in that in moving south whether by the inland or coastal routes, the advancing Aborigines would have passed through the broader New England. 

But what about that bit in the middle, the New England Tablelands? This was a less rich area in food terms, making occupation less likely.

In the absence of early dates, Wendy Beck, Robert Hayworth and John Appleton examined what resources might have been available to the Aborigines on the New England in the lagoons that run along the spine of the Tablelands.

The lagoons and especially Little Llangothlin have been studied because their long existence (c48,000 years) provides a useful record of change over time. They concluded that the combination of megafauna with lagoon resources could have provided a base for at least seasonal visits.

All this is surmise based on circumstantial evidence. We may never know because of the scale of changes that have taken place over the last forty thousand years. On the coast, for example, changing sea levels mean that many potential occupation sites have been buried under water or later silt deposits.

Despite such problems, I do believe that we can learn more through the type of studies pioneered by Wendy and her colleagues.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the on-line edition of the Armidale Express Extra on 17 April 2020. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015,  here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018, here 2019, here 2020