Parramatta, NSW: a deep time Aboriginal cultural landscape

Parramatta, New South Wales, has an extensive Aboriginal archaeological record, retained in a range of aeolian, alluvial and remnant soil landscapes either side of the tidal Parramatta River. Parramatta’s archaeological record varies spatially and stratigraphically across the shallow sloping landforms and terraced flats that gradually rise away from the river. This paper applies a chronological categorisation under the framework of the Eastern Regional Sequence to stone artefact assemblages from 26 Aboriginal sites.
Some of the chronological and spatial variability observed in the archaeological record can be associated with changing environmental conditions, such as the river becoming a tidal estuary at the Pleistocene/Holocene junction. However, some long-term patterns observed through the archaeological record were not solely driven by environmental change. We have sought to apply social knowledge of local Aboriginal traditions and cultural history to investigate and understand some of the Late Holocene changes.
The local Aboriginal community retains a strong cultural connection with Parramatta, and collation of oral, social and cultural histories provides an overview of these associations. Some of the connections demonstrate principals of social association which could have influenced the pattern of landscape occupation over the last two thousand years. We seek to understand whether the cultural associations resulted in Late Holocene social control in Parramatta, perhaps influencing patterns of landform use, occupation, and consequently deposition of archaeological materials.