Holocene subsistence change in eastern Australia: The zooarchaeology of Graman B1 Rockshelter

The Holocene in Australia is characterised as a period of dramatic social and economic reorganisation in Aboriginal culture across the continent, with some of the most evident changes visible in the archaeological record of subsistence patterns. The zooarchaeology of key sites suggests that during the Mid- to Late Holocene, hunters switched emphasis away from high-yield large macropods to a diversity of smaller-bodied animals as a response to changing environmental conditions, demographic demands and/or available technologies. One such key site is Graman B4 (GB4), where a transition from kangaroo to possum occurred around 3000 years ago. However, the low resolution of legacy data from sites such as GB4, and contrary results from more recent excavations elsewhere, question the integrity of this broader trend. Here, we revisit the issue of subsistence change in eastern Australia through an original analysis of the archaeological fauna from the adjacent site Graman B1 (GB1), which has an older sequence extending into the early Middle Holocene. We find a persistent pattern of macropod-majority meat contributions throughout the entire ~6500 year sequence with varying degrees of reliance on smaller animals. Only within the last 2000 years are there signs of emergent specialisation in possum acquisition, though this is not at the expense of macropod hunting. We also detect a sharp decline in the use of GB1 coincident with the first occupation of GB4. Our results highlight the importance of high-resolution taxonomic identification and close consideration of animal body mass, as well as data from more than one site within an archaeological complex, to the construction of representative chronologies in Australian Holocene subsistence change.