Oceania Publications, University of Sydney

Origins of the Western Desert Language: Convergence in Linguistic and Archaeological Spaceand Time ModelsAuthor(s): Peter VethSource: Archaeology in Oceania, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Apr., 2000), pp. 11-19Published by: Wiley on behalf of Oceania Publications, University of SydneyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40387142 .

Accessed: 05/02/2015 22:06

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

Wiley and Oceania Publications, University of Sydney are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to Archaeology in Oceania.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Archaeol Oceania 35 (2000) 11-19

Origins of the Western Desert language: convergence in linguistic and archaeologi- cal space and time models

PETER VETH

Abstract

Recently linguists have adopted historical approaches to provide chronologies for the expansion of languages in Australia. McConvell (1996) has defined an approach he refers to as linguis- tic prehistory, in which the methods of comparative linguistics are used to estimate the point of origin and timing of the spread of the Western Desert language. McConvell and others have aimed to calibrate these reconstructions against available archaeological evidence from the Western Desert. In this paper I consider recent

archaeological syntheses from the Western Desert and discuss how inferred changes in archaeological site patterning, occupational intensity, technology, symbolic schema and exchange systems may correlate with linguistic phases of expansion. It is an assumption of this paper that the spread of a language occurs through the

migration of those language speakers.

Western Desert language speakers occupy a vast area of interior Australia, in some of the most arid country per- manently occupied by humans (Veth 1995a; figure 1). McConvell and Laughren (1996) and McConvell (1996) have argued that a high degree of internal homogeneity testifies to a relatively recent expansion of this language, probably in the last 1,000 - 2,000 years. Two questions immediately arise from this observation; what is the geo- graphical origin of the Western Desert language and who are the ancestors of the present-day speakers?

McConvell (1996) has defined an approach he refers to as linguistic prehistory, in which the methods of com- parative linguistics are used to provide a chronology for the expansion of the Western Desert language. McConvell (1996:127) notes specifically that he wants

...to focus on the potential for archaeology to provide... chronological benchmarks which can serve to calibrate the linguistic sequences.

His integrative approach aims to avoid what critics have referred to as building on each other's myths (cf. Renfrew 1987).

He attempts to calibrate this spread of language with cultural markers in the archaeological record of the Western Desert. Since first presenting this paper, only several years ago, a number of new archaeological sequences and syntheses have been produced for the Western Desert and its margins which deserve considera-

tion in light of his original propositions (e.g. O'Connor and Veth 1996, 1998; O'Connor et al. 1999; Thorley 1998; Veth and Smith in prep.).

McConvell (1996) concluded that: 1) the most recent phase of language expansion in the

western half of the continent (the Wati sub group or Western Desert Language) occurred by approximately 1,500 years ago;

2) the earlier expansion of the Nyungic branch of the Pama-Nyungan family occurred by approximately 3,000 years ago; and finally

4) the initial Pama-Nyungan expansion into Australia occurred by around 5,000 BP. McConvell and Laughren (1996) suggest that Western

Desert came from an area southeast of the Hamersley (Karijini) Ranges in the vicinity of the Gascoyne head- waters, and moved east through the inland Pilbara into the desert proper. A Western Desert homeland is identi- fied in the vicinity of Lake Disappointment within the Great Sandy Desert.

In this paper I will discuss archaeological evidence which addresses the issues of: 1) Pleistocene occupation of the Western Desert (non

Pama-Nyungan language group); 2) Occupation of all desert ecosystems by the mid-

Holocene (Pama-Nyungan group); 3) Increased site use and exchange networks by the late

Holocene (Wati sub group); and

4) The centrality of the ranges surrounding Lake Disappointment as a homeland for the Western Desert language. The major conclusion made by McConvell, that there

was convergence in linguistic and archaeological space and time models for the dynamics of the Western Desert language, finds support in this re-assessment of the archaeological data. It should be stressed, however, that the linguistic and archaeological data sets are different in scale. Whereas the framework for earlier occupations and subsequent population movements within the Western Desert can be reasonably inferred from archaeo- logical sequences dating to the Pleistocene, and certainly from the mid-Holocene, the linguistic data provide reso- lution only for the mid- to late Holocene.

The previously dominant assumption of Aboriginal history comprising an unchanging people in an unchang- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, James Cook

University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia 4811

11

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

ing land has been effectively challenged by archaeology. Increasingly the picture is of dynamic systems, and par- ticularly so in the Holocene (cf. Lourandos 1996). This view of Australian prehistory has affinities with those held in historical linguistics which link widespread lan- guage families with migrations and language expansions in the last few millennia.

Processes of language expansion

Before turning to the linguistic and archaeological evi- dence for the timing and origins of the Western Desert Language I will briefly touch on some of the explana- tions which have been offered for the processes involved in language expansion.

Both Dixon (1980) and Renfrew (1987) argue that the mechanism for the expansion of language does not neces- sarily involve large scale migration of people. Movement of languages, ideas and social practices may occur inde- pendently of population movement. Consequently, there is a need to investigate changes in interactive networks and the movements of goods between sites.

On the other hand McConvell (1996) quoting Diebold (1987), argues that language expansion requires a migra- tion of a number of speakers, although not necessarily mass migration.

As Diebold (1987:27) notes

Entire languages do not and cannot diffuse through space save in the mouths of (some of) their speakers. It is impossible to imagine a scenario in which a semiotic sys- tem as complex as a natural language could thus be trans- mitted by diffusion alone.

McConvell (1996:128) argues further that

A whole language is not like a cultural artefact or a single word. It may be learnt by neighbours when contact occurs as a second language of wider communication, but this bilingualism will not convert to language shift or lan- guage expansion unless some additional population movement takes place.

While migration as an explanation for the distribution of material culture has been appropriately criticised in archaeology, extension of this critique to language expansion should be viewed with some caution.

McConvell makes a clear distinction between cultural diffusion and language expansion. Cultural diffusion rep- resents the transmission of material culture, forms of social organisation, and concepts from one group to another. Associated with this process is the passage of a verbal element of the culture that goes with the mater- ial/conceptual element. These are usually lexical items or loanwords. All this requires is contact between groups.

Language expansion describes the adoption of the lan- guage of another group until it becomes the first lan- guage, usually after a period of bilingualism; this is lan- guage shift. The group whose language is replaced may or may not adopt all or most of the cultural traits of the donor group. Expansion is argued to follow the migra-

tion of a number of speakers. These definitions are central to McConvell's case that

Pama-Nyungan expansion involved the migration of Pama-Nyungan people. At this stage I should draw atten- tion to the fact that migrations into the Western Desert may have been made into sparsely populated or unoccu- pied areas and therefore may not have involved language shift, per se.

Linguistic evidence for the timing and origins of the Western Desert Language

McConvell (1996) presents a multi-phase model for the sequence of expansion and diffusion events.

From 1,500 BP to the present, data on subsections pro- vides the major case for cultural diffusion. On the basis of ethnographic analogy of historical spreads of subsections a time estimate is made for its spread through subgroups. McConvell develops an extremely detailed argument for stratification of vocabulary and subsection diffusion in central Australia and northern Australia (north of the Pama-Nyungan boundary) and patterning in gene fre- quencies (based largely on Birdsell's [1993] work). It is by at least 1,500 years ago that Western Desert Language speakers occupy the Western Desert. In the last 500 years Western Desert speakers encroach into Central Australia and a late strata of loans occurs from Western Desert to the Eastern languages.

He concludes with Laughren (McConvell and Laughren 1996) that the homeland of the Wati subgroup (to which the Western Desert language belongs) was in the south- west Pilbara/Gascoyne headwaters of north-west Australia (see figure 1) and the homeland of Western Desert not far east of there. He dates the movement of proto- Wati out of this area to just before 2,000 BP.

Between 3,000 to 2,000 years ago the Western Desert may have been occupied by a sub-group of Pama- Nyungan speakers. It is then proposed that this earlier wave was followed by other sub-groups of Nyungic, the branch of Pama-Nyungan which came to occupy all of Western Australia and much of the Northern Territory and South Australia.

It was from approximately 3,000 to 3,500 years ago that the Nyungic language spreads out into arid lands from north-western Queensland from the so-called proto- Nyungic homeland unity. Proto-Nyungic derives from proto-Pama-Nyungan unity dating to around 6,000 BP.

Therefore, in summary, we can model that the Western Desert was occupied by non-Pama-Nyungan speakers before 5,000 years ago. Between 5,000 and 1,500 years ago Nyungic becomes dominant with the later movement of proto- Wati from into the Western Desert. The home- land of the Wati subgroup (to which the Western Desert language belongs) was in the south-west Pilbara/Gascoyne headwaters and the homeland of the Western Desert language not far east of there, perhaps in the vicinity of Lake Disappointment. The movement of proto-Wati into the desert is dated to just before 2,000

12

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Figure 1: Approximate boundary of the Western Desert and surrounding geography (after Veth 1993a).

BP with the Western Desert language well in place by 1,500 years ago.

Archaeological evidence and possible correlations with the proposed spread of the Western Desert Language

Archaeological research over the last few years from the sites of Serpent's Glen and Katampul, located within and adjacent to the Sandy Deserts of the Western Desert (Figures 1 and 2), has now established a human presence

from before 24,000 BP (O'Connor and Veth 1996, 1998). These Pleistocene-aged sequences and the sites of Puritjarra and Kulpi Mara located on the eastern edge of the Western Desert have been interpreted by some authors as having evidence for decreased intensity of occupation during the Last Glacial Maximum (cf. Thorley 1998; O'Connor et al 1999; Veth 1995a). This occurs from between approximately 22,000 and 13,000 years ago. It is a possibility that portions of these arid lands may have fallen from use during this period or instead were used in a different manner such as changes

13

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Figure 2: Location of Serpent's Glen, Durba Hills and the Calvert Ranges with reference to desert divisions

(after Mabbutt 1971).

in dietary breadth/residential mobility (Edwards and O'Connell 1995; Smith 1989; Veth 1995a). Following climatic amelioration a gradual process of demographic relaxation (after Smith 1989) and recolonisation is argued to have occurred from donor areas such as the Pilbara" uplands. There is evidence for the systematic use of all desert ecosystems by approximately 5,000 to 3,000 BP with an increase in occupational intensity registered by approximately 1,500 BP (Smith 1993; Veth 1995b).

A five phase occupational model for the Western Desert is proposed with implications for linguistic mod- eling (Table 1).

The archaeological evidence for this model is exam- ined and I conclude that the most likely timing for the expansion of the Western Desert language is the late Holocene and that its origin is from the northern part of the central west coast.

Phase 1 describes early colonisation of the Western Desert before 25,000 BP to approximately 22,000 BP. Previously the oldest date for occupation of the Western Desert (as defined by the boundaries of uncoordinated

£x I * - «Λ* •/"/PENINSULA ff* ' ¿Jri /* ( Point Smtion

-^•^OAi^der« Mound ^> 14

ValiT Middtn ^Nicfcol River Mound

0 10 20km Roeburn·· -

MONTE BELLO . m0/ '

120·

ÎN .

/ £$No«l«Cmt, / f WL Campbtll Ct»e "I f

«>ANDS / *«_p¿. I / Cap« Utoueht^r

114° ^116° / Jff

' 1 y^~^ 0 v^<--»Roeboufne

CAPE RANGE / V>- PENINSULA -·<„,. ^^νΓ^>?α *Λ

- 22° ZL-/-T*Mindu M·"^ 4^/ «oekAeltw MAJ 'Crttk Recklhtltir Γ/X^C^^ / '-Λ x< SnLnÄii'PILBARA# 7^R^^

/ r ' Yadit Wtil Roek*ilt>Cí^ ,&""""* "«««««w L Werroora MMden ^^'*^

'114° 116° 118° 120° 122°

Figure 3: Northwest Australia, showing key sites men- tioned in the text.

drainage) was 10,000 BP from the rocksheiter site of Puntutjarpa (Figure 2), located near Warburton (Gould 1977). Pleistocene dates have been obtained from Puritjarra and Kulpi Mara, which lie on the eastern mar- gin of the Western Desert, however they have been argued by their excavators to be linked to the central Australian Ranges (cf. Smith 1988; Thorley 1998). As Thorley (1998: 41) notes 'Together with Puritjarra... the evidence from Kulpi Mara demonstrates early occupa- tion of the freshwater riverine core of the central Australian ranges and its well-watered hinterland". It was not until 1995 that the first Pleistocene sequence was obtained from the site of Serpent's Glen lying well within the desert lowlands of the Western Desert (O'Connor et. al 1998, see Figure 2).

14

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Phase 1 Early colonisation of Western Desert >25,000 BP-22,000 BP All land systems in use Broadly based economy

Phase 2 Changes in residential patterns Shifts in demography (LGM) 22,000-1 3,000 BP Lowlands used more opportunistically

Phase 3 Climatic amelioration 1 3,000 BP to 5,000 BP Marginal lands used more systematically

Phase 4 Occupation of all desert ecosystems 5,000 BP to 1 ,500 BP (Re)establishment of regional exchange/information networks

Phase 5 Increased intensity of site occupation 1 ,500 BP to Contact Accelerated ritual and ceremonial cycles Increase in long distance exchange

Table 1: Occupation phases and key elements for Western Desert.

The site of Serpent's Glen is located within the well watered gorges of the Carnarvon Ranges within the other- wise arid Little Sandy Desert in amongst linear red dune fields (Figure 2). Excavation of the main rocksheiter, which is covered in spectacular paintings of a range of mythological beings, revealed deep cultural deposits. The Lower Unit, comprising red compacted sediments, has an upper date of approximately 23,500 BP. A Middle Unit of lighter sediments is culturally sterile while the Upper Unit has been dated to the late Holocene and contains high numbers and densities of hafted implements. Artefacts in the Lower Unit appear to be made from locally available stone sources while those from the Upper Unit reflect a preference for finer-grained materials, a pattern not uncommon with a mid-to late Holocene shift to hafted adzes, geometric microliths and backed points (see also Thorley and Gunn 1996). Given the substantial volume of deposit beneath the 23,500 BP date, it is likely that the initial occupation of the site occurred earlier.

A number of recent critiques (Edwards and O'Connell 1995; see also Gorecki et al 1997) reason that broad spectrum diets could have existed early on in arid Australia and that systematic use of staples, such as seeds, were well in place by the terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene (cf. Fullagar and Field 1997). There is increasing consensus that occupation of the arid zone before the Last Glacial Maximum may have occurred during more favourable conditions and that regional demography and social networks may have been altered due to the intensified aridity of the Last Glacial Maximum (cf. Thorley 1998; Veth 1995a). It is also pos- sible that dietary shifts and changes in residential pat- terns largely mitigated the effects of increased aridity. An accurate characterisation of such shifts requires many more Pleistocene-aged sequences at the regional level.

Phase 2 describes a period of demographic instability from approximately 22,000 BP to 13,000 BP. While the

timing of the occupational hiatus at Serpent's Glen requires further dating it does overlap with a noticeable paucity of dates from sites located throughout the arid north-west lowlands located in the goldfields, Murchison coast, Pilbara region and the south-west Kimberley (see Veth 1995a). The general lack of dates is accompanied by a much lower rate of both sediment and artefact accu- mulation in sites during the Pleistocene-Holocene transi- tion and is seen to reflect cultural responses to enhanced glacial aridity (O'Connor et al 1993; Veth 1995a; O'Connor et al 1999). These responses might include demographic shifts and increased residential mobility (see also Smith 1989).

It should be noted that sites located within uplands which contain gorge systems, such as those in the Pilbara Bloc, do not have the same degree of depletion in deposits during this critical arid phase (Veth 1995a). Sites associated with the massive catchment of the Fortescue River include Manganese Gorge 8 Rocksheiter, Malia Rocksheiter, Newman Rocksheiter and Newman Orebody Rocksheiter (see Figure 3).

Another line of evidence for patterns of occupation during the Last Glacial Maximum comes from the coastal belt of the Pilbara. Both at Cape Range Peninsula and on the Montebello Islands there are cultural assem- blages dating to the Pleistocene when the sea was nearby (see Figure 3). It can be inferred that groups permanently occupied the coastal fringe and hinterland plains, adjust- ing to changing sea levels as required (Morse 1994). There is no evidence that the now submerged coastal plain was necessarily depauperate in key economic resources (Veth 1993b).

Phase 3 describes climatic amelioration accompanied by a suggested process of demographic relaxation (after Smith 1989) and likely colonisation from less marginal lands between 13,000 BP to 5,000 BP. This is the period during which Puntutjarpa is first occupied and when

15

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

many of the surrounding arid lowland sites are first occu- pied. Examples include rockshelters and middens on the Pilbara coastline (Burrup Peninsula) and open sites within the Murchison catchment (see Figure 3 and Veth 1993a).

It is not known whether (re)colonisation was gradual or indeed whether relict populations maintained a pres- ence throughout the Western Desert until this period of climatic amelioration. There is increasing consensus, however, that settlement and mobility patterns could only have approximated the ethnographic pattern follow- ing climatic amelioration (cf. Gould 1991).

Phase 4 describes occupation of all desert ecosystems from 5,000-3,000 BP to 1,500 BP. During this period we have abundant evidence for continuous/repeated occupa- tion of desert uplands, dune fields, sand sheets and wet- lands. Mid- to late Holocene stratified sites have been recorded from the Rudall River area, the Durba Ranges (Little Sandy Desert), the Calvert Ranges, the northern flanks of the Eighty Mile Beach and from a number of surrounding arid zone localities (see Figure 3; O'Connor and Veth 1993).

If the Western Desert experienced demographic restructuring and possibly periods of abandonment during earlier phases then logically it can only be at this later stage that regional populations and information networks are re-established. While the actual timing of the initia- tion of regional networks is unknown it is clear that the rapid dissemination of any material or cultural baggage relies on such a system being in place. If we accept that ramified kinship networks and long distance networks are essential components of Western Desert culture (cf. Gould 1977; Tonkinson 1991), then it seems likely they were present during the 'mapping on' by groups to all desert ecosystems. As Thorley (1998: 43) concludes

...the emergence of a true desert adaptation, similar to that observed ethnographically, is unlikely to have taken place in Australia until well after the last major period of aridity had ended around 12,000 years b.p.

Finally, Phase 5 illustrates increased intensity of occu- pation with accelerated ritual/ceremonial cycles from approximately 1,500 BP to contact. An examination of the stone artefacts from four sites in the Rudall River and from Serpent's Glen demonstrates a significant increase in the rate of discard, and breadth of activities per- formed, over the last 1,500 years (Veth 1993a; O'Connor et al 1998). A pattern of changing site function was also identified by Smith (1988), beginning at 1,400 BP, from a number of central Australian sites. He saw these shifts as reflecting an intensification in ceremonial activities.

With reference to the Western Desert, Thorley and Gunn (1996) have argued that one line of evidence for changes in such interactive networks is the relative abun- dance of non-local raw materials used for tool manufac- ture in sites. Thorley and Gunn (1996: 7) note

If the extended exchange networks and collaborative ritu- als said to be characteristic of Western Desert groups were a recent arrival then it is expected that increase in exchange or transport of raw materials from more distant sources would be registered in major aggregation sites.

Gould (1977), Thorley (1998), Smith (1988) and O'Connor et al (1998) have all identified an increase in the movement of such goods in different portions of the Western Desert during the late Holocene and probably within the last 2,000 years. Different lines of evidence, such as the sourcing and distribution of ochres, used both in body decorations and painting and the widespread exchange of pearl shell and baler in the desert, used in rain making and ritual contexts at contact, are being investigated by Smith (pers. comm.) and Veth and Smith (in prep) at present, with promising results.

Ten shell specimens, which have been clearly ground on the margins, were recovered from sites within the Great Sandy Desert by Veth and Smith in 1996, and have been subsequently dated (Smith pers. comm). The speci- mens were all recovered from previous major aggrega- tion sites known by Martujarra informants to have been used for rain making and other related ceremonial activi- ties within their lifetimes (cf. Tonkinson 1991; Veth 1993a). It is of interest to note that all of the specimens date to within the last couple of thousand years and that no older shell specimens have been previously recovered from stratified sites within the Western Desert (Smith pers. comm.). It should be acknowledged that sample size is still very small, however.

Recent research at the spectacular remote gorge oasis of Kaalpi (Calvert Ranges) within the Little Sandy Desert (Veth and Smith in prep.) has begun to document the prolific engravings and painting galleries and occu- pational deposits present (Figure 2). Excavation within one rocksheiter, adorned by a plethora and varied schema of painted motifs, has recovered a late Holocene desert assemblage, noticeable for the presence of a high number of seed processors and ochre fragments. Painted motifs include common Western Desert geometries and anthro- pomorphs and a variety of depictions of ancestral beings, according to several Martujarra informants who had occupied the gorge until as recently as the early 1960's. Of particular note, however, were recurrent depictions of anthropomorphs with elaborate headdresses of varying sizes. Near identical depictions have been recorded at the gorge site of Serpent's Glen to the south and Durba Springs to the west; all located within the linear dune- fields of the Sandy Desert (O'Connor et al 1998; Veth pers. obs.). This group of three gorge refugia are well known to Western Desert people everywhere and not sur- prisingly are nodes to a host of ancestral mythic beings.

The impression gained from a preliminary assessment of the multiplicity of schema employed in the painted motifs is that these gorges have served as "nodes" for very widespread information networks - which may well have extended to the central Australian Ranges, north-west to the Pilbara and southwards towards the gibber landscapes of the Goldfields of Western Australia. These observations are of interest when it is recalled that McConvell (1996) and McConvell and Laughren (1996) have identified this very area as the homeland of the Western Desert Language.

It may be that the social and economic transforma-

16

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Western Pilbara Central SW Southern Desert Region Australia Bloc Kimberley

Tula adzes * * * Geometrie microliths * * * * Backed blades * * * * Millstones * * * Grindstones ***** Mortar and pestle * * * ? Unifacial points * * * Bifacial points * Trapezoidal blades * * * *

Table 2: Correspondence of selected implements between Western Desert and adjacent regions (cf. Smith 1988a; Veth 1993a; pers. obs. WA Museum and SA Museum collections).

tions associated with the emergence of a widespread Western Desert culture were generated through the con- tinued or intermittent occupation of such outlier gorge refugia within desert lowlands, during or after the Last Glacial Maximum, and that these existing societies were present when Wati speakers first ventured into the desert.

The engravings at Kaalpi clearly cover a much longer period of time than the excavated deposits, given the presence of desert varnish on a number of panels and the physical disintegration/splitting of a large number of the quartz sandstone panels on which engravings were already present. Very large and elaborate engraved anthropomorphs different in style to those in the paint- ings, with detailed body infill, and disembodied archaic faces are present in the Calvert Ranges.

My first major proposition is that the timing for the expansion of the Western Desert language and its wide- spread presence by 1,500 BP sits well with archaeological evidence for changes in the intensity of site occupation, exchange networks and the apparent occupation of all desert ecosystems by this time. The movement and spread of new language speakers into the Western Desert may well have been facilitated through the previous endoge- nous development of a Western Desert adaptation within the outlier gorge refugia and their surrounding arid lands. While I have previously argued that such transformations might be expected from groups tethered to large upland refuges which fringe such arid lowlands (Veth 1993a), there is increasing reason to believe that some popula- tions may have been present on the lowlands during the terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene (Smith 1993).

Possible source of the Western Desert languages

We can now ask where did the Western Desert Language come from? If we assume that the spread of the Western Desert Language dates from after 5 - 3,000 BP, then we can begin to examine the distribution of formal artefacts and art forms from possible donor areas. This discussion

aims to direct future inquiries by highlighting major sim- ilarities and differences in material culture and does not attempt an exhaustive review of sources.

With respect to stone artefacts, the major class of durable items, the only donor areas to have a similar suite of implements as the Western Desert is the Pilbara and the central Australian Ranges. The technology of produc- tion and the overall morphology of numerous hafted implements and grinding stones are very similar indeed. Some of the most common implement types are listed in Table 2 (sources are Smith 1988; Veth 1993a and per- sonal observations made at the Western Australian and South Australian Museums). While most Western Desert implements are also found in central Australia, there are differences in the relative frequencies of key artefacts, such as the mortar and pestle, which are only infrequently recorded in the Western Desert and even less so in the Pilbara (cf. Gorecki et al. 1997; Smith 1988; pers. obs.).

Gould (1990) has compared and contrasted art of the Western Desert and central Australia, with special refer- ence to its role as a mnemonic device, and concluded that differences in motif frequency and spatial patterning reflect different land-use strategies.

In contrast, numerous researchers have identified close similarities in both the style, execution and pattern- ing of Western Desert and Pilbara engravings and have documented mythological narratives which clearly link the two areas and their art (e.g. Maynard 1977; Tonkinson 1991). For example, highly stylised faces occur on the Burrup Peninsula, within the central Pilbara uplands and at several ranges within the Western Desert (cf. Dix 1977 and personal observation). Engraved gracile anthropomorphic figures, with elaborate head- dresses, also have the same distribution. A number of painted naturalistic motifs and geometries are shared between the two areas, although arguably all of these motifs have a wider distribution.

It is worth noting that the Wandjina/Bradshaw styles of painting from the southern Kimberley do not occur in the Western Desert (Walsh 1988). Nor do there seem to

17

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Dates Archaeological Phases Linguistic correlations

Phase 6 Increased interaction WD/Arrente WD speakers encroach into central Australia 500 BP-Present Strata of loans WD <-> Eastern Languages

Phase 5 Increased artefact discard in sites Spread of Western Desert language 1 ,500-500 BP Increased sedimentation rates Loanwords from Northern languages -> WD

Ceremonial/exchange cycles intensify ?Early stratum of loans WD -> Arandic

Phase 4 Occupation of all desert ecosystems Pama-Nyungan (?Nyungic) occupation of WD 5,000-1 ,500 BP Information networks in place ?First move of proto-Wati from the Gascoyne

Wide exchange systems (re)established

Phase 3 Climatic amelioration 13,000-5,000 BP Marginal lands used more systematically

Phase 2 Changes in residential patterns and mobility 22,000-1 3,000 BP Overall shifts in demography

Phase 1 Early colonisation of Western Desert Occupation by non Pama-Nyungan speakers >22,000 BP Broadly based economy Table 3: Archaeological and linguistic correlations in the Western Desert (after McConvell 1996: table 3).

be similarities between the art of the south-west and this region. The mythological sagas of Wati Kutjarra (Two men), Papa (Dingo) and the Seven Sisters (Pleiedes), to name just a few, connect specific sites (often with art) between the Pilbara and the Western Desert (Tonkinson 1991; Veth pers. obs.). Some of these narratives do not extend to the central Australian Ranges. While the art of these regions still requires reliable dating, it is reasonable to assume that the 'maintained' art sites, and those form- ing part of the mythological narrative, should be treated as connected.

The second proposition is that similarities in formal implements, art and mythology between the larger Pilbara region and the Western Desert makes the former the most likely donor area, although the possibility of the central Australian Ranges having also acted as a donor for certain elements of material culture should not be excluded.

Conclusion

On the basis of this preliminary examination of regional patterns in stratified archaeological sites and shared cul- tural attributes there appears to be convergence between the archaeological data and the historical linguistic mod- els proposing that the Western Desert Language origi- nated in the northwest of the continent and that its spread occurred in the late Holocene, possibly as recently as 1,500 years ago. This apparent agreement sits well with the general scenarios for language spread made by McConvell (1996) and McConvell and Laughren (1996). On the basis of linguistic evidence they conclude that the

homeland of Wati was located in the southern Pilbara/Gascoyne headwaters and that the homeland of Western Desert lay just to the east of there, in the vicinity of Lake Disappointment (see Figure 2).

The correlations that are modelled to occur between archaeological and linguistic phases are outlined in Table 3 (cf. McConvell 1996: Table 3; note the addition of phase 6). Through the application of a range of tech- niques which fall under the approaches of linguistic stratigraphy and social archaeology we have a degree of convergence in our reconstructions of the origins and timing of the Western Desert phenomena. The results are encouraging given that the reconstructions act as a potential check on each other.

Having noted the potential for this engagement I would, nevertheless, make the following cautionary remarks. Firstly, the correlations noted here are not neces- sarily causally linked. If language spread does require some form of migration and yet spread of material traits only diffusion, then potentially different social mecha- nisms may be at play. Secondly, our understanding of the timing and directionality of material exchange systems in the Western Desert in pre-contact times is still in the early stages of research. It may be equally plausible that the 'Western Desert adaptation' is an endogenous develop- ment, as I have posited above, emerging from the gorge outliers of the lowland deserts. Finally, satisfying expla- nations for why shifts in language, exchange patterns and site use may have occurred during the last two millennia within the Western Desert are not immediately apparent from such an exercise. Current work by Gibbs and Veth (in prep) aims to explore some of the social mechanisms that may have given rise to this remarkable process.

18

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

References

Birdsell, J. 1993 Microevolutionary Patterns in Aboriginal Australia: a gradient analysis of dines. Oxford University Press, New York.

Diebold, A.R. 1987 Linguistic ways to prehistory. In S.N. Skomal and E.C. Polonie (eds) Proto-Indo-European: the archaeology of a linguistic problem, pp. 19-71. Institute for the Study of Man, Washington.

Dix, C. D. 1977 Facial representations in Pilbara rock engrav- ings In P. J. Ucko (ed.) Form in indigenous Art: schématisa- tion in the art of Aboriginal Australia and Prehistoric Europe, pp. 277-285. Prehistory and Material Culture Series No. 13, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.

Dixon, R.M.W. 1980 The Languages of Australia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Edwards, D. A. and J. F. O'Connell 1995 Broad spectrum diets in arid Australia. Antiquity 69: 769-83.

Fullagar, R. and J. Field 1997 Pleistocene seed-grinding imple- ments from the Australian arid zone. Antiquity 71:300-307.

Gibbs, M. and P. Veth in prep Daisy Bates and the Western Desert Phenomena: ritual engines and territorial ascen- dancy.

Gorecki, P., Grant, M., O'Connor, S. and P. Veth 1997 The morphology, function and antiquity of grinding implements in Northern Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 32: 141-50.

Gould, R.A. 1977 Puntutjarpa Rocksheiter and the Australian Desert Culture. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, 54.

Gould, R.A. 1990 Recovering the Past. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Gould, R.A. 1991 Arid-land foraging as seen from Australia: adaptive models and behavioural realities. Oceania 62: 12-33.

Lourandos, H. 1996 Change in Australian prehistory: scale, trends and frameworks of interpretation. In Ulm, S., Lilley, I. and A. Ross (eds) Australian Archaeology '95: proceed- ings of the 1995 Australian Archaeological Association annual conference, pp. 15-21. Tempus 6, Anthropology Museum, University of Queensland, St Lucia.

Maynard, L. 1977. Classification and terminology in Australian Rock art In P. J. Ucko (ed.) Form in indigenous art: schématisation in the art of Aboriginal Australia and Prehistoric Europe, 87-102. Prehistory and Material Culture Series No. 13, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.

McConvell, P. 1996 Backtracking to Babel: the chronology of Pama-Nyungan expansion in Australia. Archaeology in Oceania 31: 125-144.

McConvell, P. and M. Laughren 1996 Where did the Western Desert language come from? Paper presented at the Western Desert Origins Workshop, Australian Linguistic Institute, ANU Canberra.

Morse, K. 1994 West Side Story: towards a prehistory of the Cape Range Peninsula. Unpublished PhD thesis, Centre for Archaeology, The University of Western Australia.

O'Connor, S. and P. Veth 1993 Where the desert meets the sea: a preliminary report of the archaeology of the southern Kimberley coast. Australian Archaeology 37: 25-34.

O'Connor, S. and P. Veth 1996 Prehistoric adaptations to the semi- arid/arid belt of Western Australia. Australian Aboriginal Studies 1996/2: 43-50.

O'Connor, S., Veth, P. and C. Campbell 1998 Serpent's Glen: a Pleistocene archaeological sequence from the Western Desert. Australian Archaeology 46: 12-22.

O'Connor, S., Veth, P. and A. Barham 1999 Cultural versus natural explanations for Lacunae in Aboriginal occupation deposits in Northern Australia. Quaternary International 59:61-70.

O'Connor, S., Veth, P. and N. Hubbard 1993 Changing inter- pretations of postglacial human subsistence and demogra- phy in Sahul. In Smith, M.A., Spriggs, M. and B. Frankhauser (eds) SahuL in Review: the archaeology of Australia, New Guineas and Island Melanesia, pp. 95-105. Occasional Papers in Prehistory, 24. Department of Prehistory, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, Canberra.

Renfrew, A.C. 1987 Archaeology and Language: the puzzle of Indo-European origins. Jonathon Cape, London.

Smith, M.A. 1988 The Pattern and Timing of Prehistoric Settlement in Central Australia. PhD thesis, University of New England, Annidale.

Smith, M.A. 1989 The case for a resident population in the Central Australian Ranges during full glacial aridity. Archaeology in Oceania 24: 93-105.

Smith, M.A. 1993 Biogeography, human ecology and prehistory in the sandridge deserts. Australian Archaeology 37: 35-50.

Thorley, P. 1998 Pleistocene settlement in the Australian arid zone: occupation of an inland riverine landscape in the cen- tral Australian ranges. Antiquity 72: 34-45.

Thorley, P. and B. Gunn 1996 Archaeological research from the eastern border lands of the Western Desert. Paper for the Western Desert Origins Workshop. Australian Linguistic Institute, Canberra.

Tonkinson, R. 1991. The Mardu Aborigines: living the dream in Australia's desert. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Fort Worth.

Veth, P.M. 1993a Islands in the interior: the dynamics of pre- historic adaptations within the arid zone of Australia. International Monographs in Prehistory. Archaeological Series 3. Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Veth, P. 1993b The Aboriginal occupation of the Montebello Islands, northwest Australia. Australian Aboriginal Studies 1993/2: 39-50.

Veth, P. 1995a Aridity and settlement in North West Australia. Antiquity 69: 733^6.

Veth. P. 1995b Marginal returns and fringe benefits: character- ising the prehistory of the lowland deserts of Australia (a reply to Smith). Australian Archaeology 40: 32-38.

Veth, P. and M. A. Smith in prep Kaalpi: the archaeology of a sandstone outlier in the Western Desert.

Walsh, G. 1988 Australia's Greatest Rock Art. Robert Brown and Associates, Bathurst.

19

This content downloaded from 130.95.186.147 on Thu, 5 Feb 2015 22:06:35 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions