Publications and Academic Research

A comment on Ward et al.'s 'Insights into the procurement and distribution of fossiliferous chert artefacts across Southern Australia from the archival record'

Bird, Caroline, Joe Dortch and Fiona Hook, “A Comment on Ward et al.’s ‘Insights into the Procurement and Distribution of Fossiliferous Chert Artefacts across Southern Australia from the Archival Record’” (2021) 87(3) Australian archaeology 326

"The presence of artefacts made from fossiliferous chert in the Perth metropolitan area and broader Swan Coastal Plain, extending from Geraldton to Dunsborough (Figure 1), has been an enigma for more than 40 years. The evidence from archaeology is inconsistent with regional geology and, as a con-sequence, geologist John Glover postulated the existence of offshore sources drowned by rising sea levels (Glover1975,1984; Glover and Cockbain 1971). Ward et al. (2019a; see also O’Leary et al.2017; Ward et al.2019b) claimed that new geo-logical evidence makes this explanation untenable and therefore propose that long-distance trade from the Eucla area near the South Australian border be reconsidered  as  an  explanation.  However,  their argument ignores the substantial archaeological evidence that led Glover to his original conclusion, as well as more recent investigations in southwest-ern Australia."

Tracing Pathways: Writing Archaeology in Nyiyaparli Country.

BIRD, CAROLINE, FIONA HOOK and JAMES W RHOADS, “Tracing Pathways: Writing Archaeology in Nyiyaparli Country” (2020) 55(2) Archaeology in Oceania 72

The Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972(WA) uniquely placed Aboriginal perspectives at the heart of assessing significance and protecting Aboriginal places, alongside “historical, anthropological, archaeological and ethnographic” interests. In practice, however, archaeological and anthropological assessments have been routinely separated in development surveys. A narrow “scientific” paradigm has come to provide the overarching model for significance assessments and, thereby, archaeological survey and site recording. Arguably, WA Aboriginal heritage management now embodies an impoverished discourse that depersonalises the archaeological record and undervalues Aboriginal archaeological places. In this paper, we explore alternative ways to weigh up archaeological evidence through an interweaving of Aboriginal understandings about archaeology, sites and country with our own archaeological understandings. We describe and analyse connections between different components of the archaeological record along Kakutungutanta Creek in Nyiyaparli Country in the eastern Chichester Range. This analysis suggests an alternative approach to assessing the significance of these sites, based on landscape and Ingold’s (1993) concept of the “taskscape”. This, we argue, better reflects Nyiyaparli and archaeological understandings of place and provides a sound basis for communicating the significance and meaning to clients, government and the wider community

Crafting Country: Aboriginal Archaeology in the Eastern Chichester Ranges, Northwest Australia (Tom Austen Brown Studies in Australasian Archaeology)

Bird, C. and J.W. Rhoads 2020. Crafting Country: Aboriginal Archaeology in the Eastern Chichester Ranges, Northwest Australia (Tom Austen Brown Studies in Australasian Archaeology). Sydney University Press, Sydney

Based on ten years of surveys and excavations in Nyiyaparli country in the eastern Chichester Ranges, north-west Australia, Crafting Country provides a unique synthesis of Holocene archaeology in the Pilbara region. The analysis of about 1000 sites, including surface artefact scatters and 19 excavated rock shelters, as well as thousands of isolated artefacts, takes a broad view of the landscape, examining the distribution of archaeological remains in time and space. Heritage compliance archaeology commonly focuses on individual sites, but this study reconsiders the evidence at different scales – at the level of artefact, site, locality, and region – to show how Aboriginal people interacted with the land and made their mark on it.

Crafting Country shows that the Nyiyaparli ‘crafted’ their country, building structures and supplying key sites with grindstones, raw material and flaked stone cores. In so doing, they created a taskscape of interwoven activities linked by paths of movement

https://open.sydneyuniversityp...

The making of Melo spp. shell knives in Northern Australia

Hook, Ulm, Akerman, Fullagar (2019).

Seminar presented at University of Western Australia

Persistent places and places of memory: archaeological markers of long-term connection to Country in the inland Pilbara, Western Australia

Bird, Rhoads and Hook (2019).

Archaeological Review from Cambridge, 2019

Coastal occupation before the “Big Swamp”: Results from excavations at JohnWayne Country Rockshelter on Barrow Island

Ditchfield, Kane, Tiina Manne, Fiona Hook, Ingrid Ward, and Peter Veth. 2018. “Coastal Occupation before the ‘Big Swamp’: Results from Excavations at John Wayne Country Rockshelter on Barrow Island.” Archaeology in Oceania 53 (August): 163–178. doi:10.1002/arco.5164.

Tracing Pathways: Writing Archaeology in Nyiyaparli Country.

Bird, C., and Hook, F. (2017).

Paper presented at AAA Annual Conference, Melbourne, VIC, 6-8 December 2017

Archaeology of Beer and the Fluidity of Meaning.

Parkes, B., Johnson, I, Bruer, N., Lillis, E. and Thomas, T.

Paper presented at AAA Annual Conference, Melbourne, VIC, 6-8 December 2017.

How Worn is Worn?: Experiments to Explore the Manufacture and Usewear of Dentalium Shell Beads from Northern Australia.

Hook, F. (2017).

Paper presented at AAA Annual Conference, Melbourne, VIC, 6-8 December 2017.

50,000 years of archaeological site stratigraphy and micromorphology in Boodie Cave, Barrow Island, Western Australia.

Ward, I., P. Veth, L. Prossor, T. Denham, K. Ditchfield, T. Manne, P. Kendrick, C. Byrne, F. Hook, and U. Troitzsch. 2017.

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 15 (2017): 344–369.

Issues of scale and resolution in interpreting surface artefact scatters in the inland Pilbara.

Bird, C., Hook, F. and Rhoads. J. W. (2016).

Poster presented at AAA Annual Conference, Terrigal, NSW, 6-8 December 2016.  Awarded best poster at the conference.

Provisioning places in Nyiyaparli country: the nature and use of rock shelters in the eastern Chichester Range.

Bird, C., Hook, F. and Rhoads. J. W. (2016). 

Poster presented at AAA Annual Conference, Terrigal, NSW, 6-8 December 2016

Lived and living landscapes in the eastern Chichester Range—understanding a Nyiyaparli taskscape.

Bird, C., Hook, F. and Rhoads. J. W. (2016).

Paper presented at Australian Archaeological Association annual conference, Terrigal, NSW, 6-8 December 2016.

Reflections on CB08-500: Alternative Narratives, Aboriginal Heritage and Significance Assessment in Western Australia.

Bird, C., Hook, F. and Rhoads. J. W. (2016). 

Hunter Gatherer Research 2.3 (2016): 327–43.

Exploring Western Australian archaeology: developing new narratives and teaching texts for school children.

Hook, F. & Bird, C. (2015). 

Paper presented at Australian Archaeology Association Conference, December 2015, Fremantle

Aboriginal People and Post-Glacial Climatic Change on the Edge of the Arid Zone: Recent Research in the Inland Pilbara

Bird, C. & Rouillard. A. (2015).

Paper presented at Australian Archaeology Association Conference, December 2015, Fremantle

Telling Better Stories About Aboriginal Archaeological Heritage in WA

Rhoads, J.W. & Bird, C. (2015)

Telling Better Stories About Aboriginal Archaeological Heritage in WA. Paper presented at Australian Archaeology Association Conference, December 2015, Fremantle

Digging Up A Good Story – A Hands-On Method For Students to Develop Narratives to Better Understand Australia’s Past

Bruer, N. (2015) Digging Up A Good Story – 

A Hands-On Method For Students to Develop Narratives to Better Understand Australia’s Past. 

Paper presented at Australian Archaeology Association Conference, December 2015, Fremantle

Measuring intensity of core reduction in the inland Pilbara

Bird, C. (2015) 

Measuring intensity of core reduction in the inland Pilbara. 

Poster presented at Australian Archaeology Association Conference, December 2015, Fremantle

Kakutungutanta to Warrie Outcamp Book: multi-audiences and the communication of archaeology

Hook, F. & Bird, C. (2015). 

Poster presented at Australian Archaeology Association Conference, December 2015, Fremantle

Sites or Archaeological Landscapes: Which One Best Reveals Aboriginal Land-use Patterns?

Rhoads, J.W. & Bird, C. (2015) 

Sites or Archaeological Landscapes: Which One Best Reveals Aboriginal Land-use Patterns? 

Poster presented at Australian Archaeology Association Conference, December 2015, Fremantle

Reflections on CB08-500

Bird, C., Hook, F. & Rhoads, J.W. (2015) 

Reflections on CB08-500. Paper presented at the CHAGS Conference, Vienna

Prehistoric Pilbara Land Use: A Socio-spatial Narrative

Rhoads, J.W. & Bird, C. (2015) 

Paper presented at the CHAGS Conference, Vienna

Rock shelters as indicators of mobility patterns in the inland Pilbara.

Bird, C., & Rhoads, J. W. (2015) 

Archaeology in Oceania, 50, 37–46

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Kakutungutanta to Warrie Outcamp: 40,000 years in Nyiyaparli country

Nyiyparli Community, Bird, C., & McDonald, E. (2015). 

Fremantle: Archae-aus

Maritime Deserts of the Australian Northwest

Veth, P., Ditchfield, K., & Hook, F. (2014). 

Australian Archaeology,79(December), 156–167s.

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Time and efficiency in data recovery: an experiment comparing wet and dry sieving in Pilbara rockshelter excavations.

Bird, C., Dias, A., Hook, F., Jimenez-Lozano, M. & Tierney, H. (2014) 

Journal of Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists 2:1-8

New radiocarbon dates from the Chichester Range, Pilbara, Western Australia

Dias, A., & Rapley, S. (2014)

Journal of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists, 2, 9–14.

Boodie Cave archaeology in its wider biogeographic context

Hook, F. (2014)

Paper presented at Society for American Archaeology Conference, Austin, Texas.

Rockshelters in a landscape.

Bird, C. (2013). 

Paper Presented at Australian Archaeological Conference, Coffs Harbour, NSW

Rockshelters and evidence for mobility in the inland Pilbara

Bird, C. & Rhoads, J. (2013) 

Paper presented at David Frankel Symposium, Melbourne, Victoria

Gurdadagudji Arrangements: artefacts of dynamic ceremonial and ritual behaviours during the last 500 years.

Hook, F. (2012) 

Paper presented at Australian Archaeological Association, Wollongong, NSW.

Gurdadaguji Stone Arrangements: Late Holocene Aggregation Locals?

Hook, F. And Di Lello (2010) 

In Session C68 (Part II). Monumental Questions: Prehistoric Megaliths, Mounds, and Enclosures. Calado, D., Baldia, M. and Boulanger, M. (Eds) BAR International Series. Oxford England: Archaeopress.

A tale of two blades: macro-blade manufacture and discard in Paraburdoo, Western Australia

Hook, F. (2009)

Archaeology in Oceania44: 23-31.

Tharrha: rock-shelter use in the inland Pilbara, Western Australia

Hook, F. (2008) 

Paper presented at the Sixth World Archaeological Congress, Dublin.

Book Review: Salvage Excavation of Six Sites along Caddies, Seconds Ponds, Smalls and Cattai Creeks in the Rouse Hill Development Area, NSW

Hook, F. (2008) 

Australian Archaeology 66: 76.

Gurdadaguji stone arrangements (Australia): late Holocene aggregation locals?

Hook, F. & Di Lello, A. (2006) 

Paper presented at the XVth Congress of the International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, Lisbon – Monumental Questions: Prehistoric Megaliths, Mounds and Enclosures.

Yirra: Evidence for Occupation of the Hamersley Plateau during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Hook, F & A. Dias. (2005) 

Paper presented to the joint Australian Archaeological Association/Australasian Institute of Maritime Archaeology Conference, Fremantle, 2005

The assessment of archaeological site on Barrow Island and the Dampier Archipelago, Pilbara, Western Australia: a collaborative approach.

Souter, C., F. Hook & A. Paterson. (2005) 

Paper presented to the joint Australian Archaeological Association/Australasian Institute of Maritime Archaeology Conference, Fremantle, 2005

The Archaeology of Trade & Exchange:

Hook, F., Paterson, A. and Souter, C. (Eds) (2005) 

The Archaeology of Trade & Exchange: Program and Abstracts of the 2005 Australian Archaeological Association (AAA) and Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (AIMA) Conference, Fremantle, Western Australia (27-30 November 2005). University of Western Australia: Perth

A note on radiocarbon dates from the Paraburdoo, Mount Brockman and Yandicoogina areas of the Hamersley Plateau, Pilbara, Western Australia

Veitch, B., F. Hook & E. Bradshaw (2005). 

Australian Archaeology60: 58-61.

Relocation and Preliminary Optical Dating of the Gurdadguji Stone Arrangements in the Pilbara region of Western Australia

Veitch, B., Hook, F., Warren, L. & Spooner, N. (2003) 

Paper presented to the Fifth World Archaeological Congress, Washington D.C, 2003.

Where did all the shell go? Recent findings from an Indigenous archaeological survey in the Exmouth Gulf, Western Australia.

Ash, A. (2005) 

Poster presented to the joint Australian Archaeological Association/Australasian Institute of Maritime Archaeology Conference, Fremantle, 2005

Stone Arrangements in the Southern Hemisphere​

2003 – Session Organisers – World Archaeological Congress 5, Washington: Veitch, B. & F. Hook (2003) 

Gurdadaguji Stone Arrangements: Research, Salvage and Dating Programme, Pilbara, Western Australia.

2002 – Veitch, B., Hook, F., Warren, L. & Spooner, N. (2002) 

Poster presented at joint Australian Archaeological Association/Australasian Institute of Maritime Archaeology/Australian Society for Historical Archaeology conference, Townsville

Aspects of the use and fire management of Bracken Fern (Pteridium esculentum)

Veitch, B. (2002) 

In Fire in Archaeology. Papers from a session held at the European Association of Archaeologists, Sixth Annual Meeting in Lisbon 2000. 

Georghui, D. (Ed) BAR International Series. Oxford England: Archaeopress

Is consulting archaeology useless?​

1998 – Session Organisers – Australian Archaeological Association conference, Valla Beach. Veitch, B & Hook, F. (1998)