Long Point

The research underpinning the field school was designed to contribute to furthering a detailed understanding of Ngarrindjeri occupation of the Coorong region in South Australia over the past 7000 years. It will assist us in developing a better understanding of the timing and nature of human adaptation to, and use of, coastal environments and resources.

Uniquely situated in close proximity to a range of coastal marine environments, freshwater lake systems and the Murray River system, the Coorong is a resource rich area. As a consequence of the easy availability of abundant resources, prior to European settlement the Coorong was one of the most densely populated regions of Australian (Tindale 1974). Although Tindale (1956, 1957) and his contemporary Campbell (1934, 1939, 1947; Campbell et al. 1946) showed an early interest in the Aboriginal occupation of the Coorong, the area generally escaped the sustained attention of archaeologists until the mid-1970s, when Roger Luebbers (1978) undertook his PhD research. This was followed by approximately six years of detailed surface surveys and occasional excavations by Luebbers (1981, 1982, 1983).

On the basis of his accumulated knowledge about the archaeological landscape of the Coorong, Luebbers (1982) suggested there had been four main phases of occupation:

1. Early Settlement Phase dating from 6,000 to 4,500 years BP

2. Initial Coastal Settlement Phase dating from 4,500 to 2,000 years BP

3. Intensive Settlement Phase dating from 2,000 years BP to ~1840s AD

4. Refugee Phase dating from 1840s to 1940s

Despite the high quality of Luebbers’ research, he himself noted that it was only preliminary in nature and recommended that detailed survey, research and assessment was required in order to “provide substantive data upon which the timing, formational mechanisms and the primary characteristics of this [cultural] development” in the Coorong (Luebbers 1982:4). As examples of some of the deficits in Luebbers’ research, his Early Settlement Phase was predicated on a single radiocarbon date (Luebbers 1982:3), while data were insufficient for him to describe the features of the Initial Coastal Settlement Phase (Luebbers 1982:4). Since Luebbers’ pioneering work, there has been no systematic archaeological investigation of the Coorong. Almost without exception the only archaeological projects that have been pursued in the region have been ‘cultural heritage clearances’ in response to increasing developmental pressure. Such projects rarely produce knowledge about the archaeology of the region that is useful in a research context.

The main aim of the Long Point project is to test these hypotheses about Indigenous settlement of the Coorong, thereby building upon the preliminary archaeological knowledge developed by Luebbers more than two decades ago. Through archaeological excavations of sites previously identified within the Long Point area of the Coorong (Wallis 2007a, 2007b), it is hoped we will begin to develop a more detailed understanding of Indigenous utilisation of marine and terrestrial resources, and the nature of the hypothesised settlement phases.