Thesis work
Thesis title: Core reduction strategies across Australia
Supervisors: Patrick Faulkner, Amy Way
Thesis abstract:
The archaeological record shows that during the Holocene (the geological epoch covering the last 12,000 years) the material culture of Aboriginal societies underwent a series of changes; new artefact types appeared and previously uncommon artefact types proliferated. The same period saw the spread of Pama-Nyungan languages, changes in land use, and a potential increase in population. These changes coincided with a period of climate change, particularly with the onset of unstable and increasingly arid weather patterns brought about by the intensification of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions circa 4500 years ago. The exact nature of the connection between these cultural and environmental changes is still contested. This project aims to understand the development and transmission of Aboriginal material culture during the Holocene, in order to address broader questions about cultural transmission and diffusion in Aboriginal societies prior to contact with Europeans. This research project will explore variations in Holocene core reduction strategies used to produce flaked stone artefacts in order to address broader questions about the causes and mechanisms of cultural change in Aboriginal society during this period. The scale of the study will allow for the first time the quantification of regional variation in cores across all of continental Australia. Variations in core reduction strategies will be examined within the context of the broader archaeological and palaeo-environmental record, to clarify why these variations exist.
Publications
Journals
- Way, A., Koungoulos, L., Wyatt-Spratt, S., Hiscock, P. (2023). Investigating hafting and composite tool repair as factors creating variability in backed artefacts: Evidence from Ngungara (Weereewa/Lake George), south-eastern Australia. Archaeology in Oceania. [More Information]
- Field, J., Wroe, S., Trueman, C., Garvey, J., Wyatt-Spratt, S. (2023). Looking for the archaeological signature in Australian megafaunal extinctions. Quaternary International, 285, 76-88. [More Information]
- Wyatt-Spratt, S. (2022). After the Revolution: A Review of 3D Modelling as a Tool for Stone Artefact Analysis. Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 5(1), 215-237. [More Information]
2023
- Way, A., Koungoulos, L., Wyatt-Spratt, S., Hiscock, P. (2023). Investigating hafting and composite tool repair as factors creating variability in backed artefacts: Evidence from Ngungara (Weereewa/Lake George), south-eastern Australia. Archaeology in Oceania. [More Information]
- Field, J., Wroe, S., Trueman, C., Garvey, J., Wyatt-Spratt, S. (2023). Looking for the archaeological signature in Australian megafaunal extinctions. Quaternary International, 285, 76-88. [More Information]
2022
- Wyatt-Spratt, S. (2022). After the Revolution: A Review of 3D Modelling as a Tool for Stone Artefact Analysis. Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 5(1), 215-237. [More Information]
2020
- Whitford, M., Wyatt-Spratt, S., Gore, D., Johnsson, M., Power, R., Rampe, M., Richards, C., Withford, M. (2020). Assessing the standardisation of Egyptian shabti manufacture via morphology and elemental analyses. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 33, 1-9. [More Information]
- Wyatt-Spratt, S. (2020). Crafting Country: Aboriginal archaeology in the eastern Chichester Range, north-west Australia: by Caroline Bird and James W. Rhoads. Lithic Technology, 46(2), 164-165. [More Information]
2019
- Wyatt-Spratt, S., Thoeming, A. (2019). New eyes for old objects: teaching history with photogrammetry. Teaching History, 53(3), 27-33.