Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Palaeodemographic Model Of Late Holocene Central Murray Aboriginal Society, Australia, Steve Webb

Steve Webb

A recent palaeopathological study has indicated that prehistoric Aboriginal society in some parts of southeastern Australia was sedentary and supported large populations. This conclusion generally supports archaeological evidence that a period of socio-enconomic intensification took place over the last 2–3,000 years. Also, concurrent research has focused attention on the possibility of extensive reductions among Aboriginal populations of the area through the introduction of smallpox. This process took place at a very early stage of European colonisation and in regions yet to be explored. As a result, smallpox probably killed large numbers of Aborigens before Europeans knew what the size of …

Reburying Australian Skeletons, Steve Webb

Steve Webb

Extract

In the last three years Aboriginal communities, particularly from south-eastern Australia, have shown great concern about the collection, storage and study of their skeletal remains. From the start there was an almost universal call for the immediate reburial of all such remains held in museums, irrespective of age and scientific value. Between May 1984 and the end of 1985, a series of Aboriginal meetings took place at which the maintenance of Aboriginal skeletal collections and research on them was condemned. Moratoria followed, preventing research even on those remains dating back 14,000 years. Antagonism arose between Aborigines and researchers, particularly …