Australian Archaeology Implications of Current Interdisciplinary Research

AbstractAbstractThe last decades has seen a striking upsurge in Australian archaeology. This has been facilitated by the establishment of a reliable chronology and by incorporation of research from other fields such as physics, geology, geomorphology, biogeography, botany, palaeontology and ethnography; the archaeologist in Australia, as elsewhere, finds his work increasingly enmeshed with a variety of scientific disciplines and techniques. What has been tbe relative fertility of these crossed associations and their benefits or consequences for Australian archaeology? This review will focus on tbe Lake Mungo locality in western New South Wales to illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of some contemporary Australian archaeological research.