TY - JOUR
T1 - ‘They planned their calendar…they set up ready for what they wanted to feed the tribe’: A first stage analysis of Narungga fish traps on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia
AU - Roberts, Amy
AU - Mollenmans, Adrian
AU - Agius, Quenten
AU - Graham, Fred
AU - Newchurch, Jeffrey
AU - Rigney, Lester-Irabinna
AU - Sansbury, Fred
AU - Sansbury, Lindsay
AU - Turner, Peter
AU - Wanganeen, Greg
AU - Wanganeen, Klynton
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - This article outlines “first stage” research into Aboriginal fish traps located on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. The project was undertaken by Flinders University researchers in collaboration with the Indigenous traditional owners of the region—the Narungga people. The research aimed to achieve a range of objectives including obtaining basic data as to the location and types of fish traps in the region as well as contextualizing these fish capture facilities in a variety of ways via traditional knowledge and contemporary perspectives, a consideration of temporal issues, a reflection on the role of traps in the Narungga coastal economy, and through reference to broader discussions (both nationally and internationally) concerning the timing and economic/socio-cultural importance of these technological innovations. Narungga knowledge systems and perspectives recorded in relation to the fish traps reveal multifaceted relationships between the community and their environment as well as associated religious/ritual engagement and cosmological knowledge. Comparison with neighboring areas reveals that the role of fish traps in coastal economies in the broader South Australia region is differential. Our observations also align with the conceptual approaches of prior researchers who have used fish traps to infer the existence or at least emergence of detailed socio-cultural organization in a late Holocene context.
AB - This article outlines “first stage” research into Aboriginal fish traps located on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. The project was undertaken by Flinders University researchers in collaboration with the Indigenous traditional owners of the region—the Narungga people. The research aimed to achieve a range of objectives including obtaining basic data as to the location and types of fish traps in the region as well as contextualizing these fish capture facilities in a variety of ways via traditional knowledge and contemporary perspectives, a consideration of temporal issues, a reflection on the role of traps in the Narungga coastal economy, and through reference to broader discussions (both nationally and internationally) concerning the timing and economic/socio-cultural importance of these technological innovations. Narungga knowledge systems and perspectives recorded in relation to the fish traps reveal multifaceted relationships between the community and their environment as well as associated religious/ritual engagement and cosmological knowledge. Comparison with neighboring areas reveals that the role of fish traps in coastal economies in the broader South Australia region is differential. Our observations also align with the conceptual approaches of prior researchers who have used fish traps to infer the existence or at least emergence of detailed socio-cultural organization in a late Holocene context.
U2 - 10.1080/15564894.2015.1096869
DO - 10.1080/15564894.2015.1096869
M3 - Article
VL - 11
SP - 1
EP - 25
JO - Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology
JF - Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology
SN - 1556-4894
IS - 1
ER -