Quartz, the multifaceted stone: a regional prehistory of the Helena River Valley on the Swan Coastal Plain of southwestern Australia

Madge Louise Schwede

Research output: ThesisDoctoral Thesis

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Abstract

[Truncated] Quartz technology is the bane of many an archaeologist
and is often neglected as a primary source of information
in prehistoric investigations. Quartz was the main stone
used in tool manufacture in many parts of the world,
including Australia and particularly southwestern
Australia. This thesis uses quartz technology,
specifically the flake debitage component, to investigate
problems of interpreting assemblages in the absence of
stratigraphic controls or other chronological markers,
and to determine technological change over 40,000 years
in the Helena River Valley, on the Swan Coastal Plain of
southwestern Australia.
Assemblages from twelve excavations on the Swan
Coastal Plain were used in the debitage analysis; four of
these assemblages were undated. First a classificatio
system was developed to categorize the assemblages. In
addition, a binocular microscope was used for the
categorization of individual pieces and for the
identification of edge damage. Measurements were taken
of flake and platform size and flake shape and then
statistically described. A broad chronological framework
was proposed, based on the dated assemblages, to enable
comparison of debitage within and between sites and areas
on the Swan Coastal Plain.
Original languageEnglish
QualificationDoctor of Philosophy
Awarding Institution
  • The University of Western Australia
DOIs
Publication statusUnpublished - 1990

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  • This thesis has been made available in the UWA Profiles and Research Repository as part of a UWA Library project to digitise and make available theses completed before 2003. If you are the author of this thesis and would like it removed from the UWA Profiles and Research Repository, please contact [email protected]

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