Enmeshed with stone: implications of relational ontology for the archaeology of Australian stone artefacts

In Australian archaeological research on stone artefacts, there is a disconnect between scientific approaches, social explanations, and Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. Throughout this thesis, my goal was to formulate and examine the implications of an alternative, theoretical approach in response to this research problem. My research engaged substantially with relational ontology, as well theories of learning and material culture, and was situated within social and Indigenous archaeologies. Overall, I argue that a relational orientation establishes new possibilities for interpretation and understanding, which are relevant and meaningful in the research context of stone artefact studies in Australian archaeology.