Shell beads and social behaviour in Pleistocene Australia.

Shell beads and social behaviour in Pleistocene Australia. Introduction Personal ornament has long been recognised as a hallmark of modernhuman behaviour (d'Errico et al. 2005; Mellars 2005), and beads andpendants are among the oldest unambiguous evidence of its use. In theOld World, evidence for the age, raw materials, standardisedmanufacturing techniques and the distance that some beads have beenfound from their original source, has been used to suggest that theywere made with a preconceived final product in mind for a particularaesthetic effect and were perhaps involved in long distance trade.Pleistocene Australian beads with the same characteristics can be arguedto be equally significant for the early human occupation of Australia. Distribution and age of the earliest beads At Qafzeh Cave in the Levant Levant(ləvănt`)[Ital.,=east], collective name for the countries of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean from Egypt to, and including, Turkey. ochre stains have been identified onone of five perforated shells found in a burial context associated witha thermoluminescence thermoluminescenceEmission of light from certain heated substances as a result of previous exposure to high-energy radiation. The radiation causes displacement of electrons within the crystal lattice of the substance. date of 92 000 years BP (Taborin 2003). While thereis some controversy over whether these shells are beads, there is nodoubt that they were handled by humans (Bar-Yosef Mayer 2005). To date,the oldest unequivocal beads in the world have been recovered from twodistinct phases in Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits at Blombos Cave Coordinates: Blombos Cave is a cave in a limestone cliff on the Southern Cape coast in South Africa. onthe southern Cape shoreline of South Africa South Africa,Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. (d'Errico et al. 2005).The phase in which this group of 41 perforated estuarine es��tu��a��rine?adj.1. Of, relating to, or found in an estuary.2. Geology Formed or deposited in an estuary.Adj. 1. estuarine - of or relating to or found in estuariesestuarial tick shells(Nassarius kraussianus) were found has been dated to about 76 000 yearsago by OSL OSL Open Source LabOSL Office of Student LifeOSL Open Source LicenseOSL Oregon State LibraryOSL Order of St Luke the PhysicianOSL Optical Stimulated LuminescenceOSL Oud Strijders Legioen (Dutch)OSL Order of Saint Luke of sediments and thermoluminescence of burnt lithics(Henshilwood et al. 2004). There are other claims of MSA beads andpendants but they have been recovered as isolated finds, such as a bonependant from Grotte Zouhra in Morocco (Debeneth 1994). Claims for evenolder beads have recently been made for three modified shells fromEs-Skul in Israel and Oued Djebbana in Algeria (Vanhaeren et al. 2006).Other MSA sites with beads such as the Cave of Hearths in South Africaare undated un��dat��ed?adj.1. Not marked with or showing a date: an undated letter; an undated portrait.2. or the context is questionable. The manufacture of ostrich ostrich,common name for a large flightless bird (Struthio camelus) of Africa and parts of SW Asia, allied to the rhea, the emu and the extinct moa. It is the largest of living birds; some males reach a height of 8 ft (244 cm) and weigh from 200 to 300 lb shell beads is widespread in the African LSA (see McBreaty & Brooks2000: 521-4) particularly after 40 000 years BP (Ambrose 1998: 388).They are present in Enkapune ya Muto, Kenya from about 37-40 000 years(Ambrose 1998) and are of a similar age at Kisese II rock shelter A rock shelter is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. Another term is rockhouse.Rock shelters form because a rock stratum such as sandstone that is resistant to erosion and weathering has formed a cliff or bluff, but a softer stratum, more subject Tanzania. In the Levant, ornaments including beads and pendants, almost allmade of small mollusc molluscmembers of the phylum Mollusca, which comprises about 50,000 species. Includes snails, slugs and the aquatic molluscs��oysters, mussels, clams, cockles, arkshells, scallop, abalone, cuttlefish, squid. shells, are abundant particularly from the UpperPalaeolithic (Bar-Yosef Mayer 2005) and have been dated from about 40000 years ago at Ksar 'Akil in Lebanon and Ucagizli in Turkey (Kuhnet al. 2001). Beads made of ostrich and estuarine shells have also beenreported from an Upper Palaeolithic site in Patne, India (Sali 1989). In Europe, ornaments are infrequent in Middle Palaeolithic sitesand their association with Neanderthals is controversial. Some of theoldest are from Bacho Kiro Cave The Bacho Kiro cave (Bulgarian: пещера „Бачо Киро“) is situated 5 kilometers west of the town Dryanovo, Bulgaria, only 300 meters away from the Dryanovo Monastery. in Bulgaria, where two pierced animalteeth, dated by radiocarbon to over 43 000 years old, are associatedwith an early Aurignacian assemblage (Kozlowski 2000). In Western Europe Western EuropeThe countries of western Europe, especially those that are allied with the United States and Canada in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (established 1949 and usually known as NATO). the dating is very controversial but the oldest claim for ivory beads isfor 40 000 years BP from the Aurignacian German Swabian Jura sites(Conard & Bolus 2003) although Zilhao and d'Errico (2003 citedin d'Errico et al. 2005) consider 36 000 to be a more plausibledate for these. While not found in all Aurignacian sites, bead andpendant ornaments become widespread across Europe after this time. Materials and manufacturing techniques associated with early beads Available evidence indicates that mollusc shells were the firstmaterials used to manufacture beads. The oldest beads from Blombos Cavein Africa and from Ksar 'Akil and Ucagizli in the Levant are madeof estuarine and marine shell. During the LSA the use of ostrich shellis particularly widespread in bead assemblages. Although EuropeanAurignacian beads are made of a variety of material including bone,ivory and steatite steatite:see soapstone. (White 1993) about a third are made of piercedmarine, freshwater and fossil shells (Taborin 1993). Choices of rawmaterial vary regionally, for example, fox canines were preferred forbeads made from animal teeth in France, Germany and Russia, while inMladec in the Czech Republic Czech Republic,Czech Česká Republika (2005 est. pop. 10,241,000), republic, 29,677 sq mi (78,864 sq km), central Europe. It is bordered by Slovakia on the east, Austria on the south, Germany on the west, and Poland on the north. , beaver incisors were the favourite (White1993: 280) and in the Levant the selection of mollusc species for beadmaking varies between sites (Bar-Yosef Mayer 2005: 177). As White (1992: 549) has noted these early beads, especiallyshells, were frequently manufactured from materials exotic to the regionin which they are found. The majority of the shells in French sites comefrom the Atlantic coast which, during full glacial times, was up to 250km from some sites (Taborin 1993: 218). The absence of intact unmodifiedbeads from these deposits suggests that the beads, or perhaps theornaments they were used for, were made elsewhere and brought to thesite as complete items. There is clear evidence that people were selective in the materialsthat they used to make beads. This is especially true for shells wherefewer than a dozen species make up 90 per cent of several hundred knownbeads from the Aurignacian (White 1992: 550). In a study of the shellornaments of the French Aurignacian and Perigordian of France, Taborin(1993) found that people clearly selected particular species notablyperiwinkles, dogwinkles, turret shells and Dentaliidae species (tuskshells) for ornaments. Both cultures used fossil and modern Atlantic andMediterranean shells and both continued to use the same species asornaments. In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke"put differently there seems to be a long and continuingtradition of the use of decorative ornaments and by implication arecognised aesthetic or cultural value. The main difference between thetwo periods is the proportions of different species used. Dentaliidaespecies (Tusk shells) were used by both cultures and became increasinglypopular in the later periods of the Upper Palaeolithic (Taborin 1993:221). They were the most common shells used for body ornamentation ornamentationIn music, the addition of notes for expressive and aesthetic purposes. For example, a long note may be ornamented by repetition or by alternation with a neighboring note (“trill”); a skip to a nonadjacent note can be filled in with the intervening bythe people who made Solutrean assemblages (Taborin 1993: 216). This selectivity of particular shell species for ornaments is alsoevident elsewhere. In the Levant sites of Ksar 'Akil and Ucagizli,for example, Kuhn et al. (2001) report that a variety of mollusc shellswere used as ornaments but at both sites the Palaeolithic inhabitantsused the same taxa for ornamental purposes and selected comparativelyrare varieties that are brightly coloured, have arresting patterns orhave luminous qualities (Kuhn et al. 2001: 7642). At both sites theranges of taxa used for ornaments are different from those used foreating. The ornamental gastropods, most of which have holes drilledthrough them, are much smaller than the food species (Kuhn et al. 2001:7643). This preference for small shells for ornamental purposes is alsoevident in the shell assemblages dated between 36 000 and 9000 BP at theItalian site Riparo Mochi (Stiner 1999). On the other hand d'Erricoet al. (2005) have argued that the MSA beads from Blombos Cave weredeliberately chosen for their large size. This selection of particularspecies and particular sizes for ornamental purposes is evidence thatthe crafters of these beads had a particular aesthetic effect in mindwhen making the beads. White (1992; 1993) describes a variety of manufacturing techniquesdesigned to contend with the differing demands of the raw materialsbeing modified as ornaments. Techniques reported for making beads fromivory, bone and steatite include incising and then snapping around theincision made on a rod of raw material to form blanks that are thenthinned and gouged, and segmenting rods that were subsequentlyperforated before being detached (White 1992: 550-4; 1993: 280-3). White(1989: 377, 382) has pointed to the degree of size standardisation ofmany of the ivory, bone and steatite beads produced in this way. Forbeads that were substantially altered in shape, those shapes were alsooften standardised. For example, ostrich shell beads made from shellfragments that were pierced and then ground to similar round shapes havebeen recovered from Enkapune Ya Muto shelter in Kenya and are dated toabout 40 000 years (Ambrose 1998: 384; Figure 3). [FIGURE 3 OMITTED] Interpretation of the earliest beads Beads are a form of body ornament that, like other body ornamentsincluding body modification Body modification (or body alteration) is the permanent or semi-permanent deliberate altering of the human body for non-medical reasons, such as spiritual, various social (markings), BDSM "edgeplay" or aesthetic. It can range from the socially acceptable decoration (e.g. , are a form of non-verbal communicationindicating social value or difference. Exactly what that difference is,is difficult to tell. They may communicate social identity, such asgroup membership, gender or marital status marital status,n the legal standing of a person in regard to his or her marriage state. or a state of being such asgrief, marriage, marriage availability or some combination of these.Wobst (1977) has pointed out that visual displays of informationthrough, for example, ornaments are often signals to strangers orinfrequently encountered individuals about identity. He suggests that inthese circumstances the meaning of the beads must be shared by thewearers and whoever they encounter or there is little point in wearingthem. This argument has been used to suggest that ornament-wearing mightarise at times when the chances of meeting strangers and the benefits ofadvertising one's identity is high (Kuhn et al. 2001). Manyresearchers (e.g. Gamble 1999; Shennan 2001) have suggested that theexplosion of symbolic behaviour associated with the Middle to UpperPalaeolithic transition, including the use of ornaments and exchange ofexotic materials over long distances, is linked to increases inpopulation densities. These arguments can be summarised by White's(1982) proposition that low density hominin groups who rarely came in tocontact with each other would not need symbolic inventions. The distanceover which shell has been traded or carried would support the notion ofinter-group contact at least for the Aurignacian. Ambrose (1998: 388),too, has suggested that ostrich shell beads found from about 40 000years ago in Africa may indicate the beginnings of systems of giftgiving and exchange. Pleistocene beads in Australia Although it is generally agreed that the first Australians wereanatomically modern humans (e.g. Stringer 2001), Australians are stillarguing about how long before 40 000 years ago the first people arrived.Most would probably accept that the first Australians arrived sometimearound about 45 000 years ago (e.g. O'Connell & Allen 1998) butsome would allow dates of up to 60 000 years BP (e.g. Roberts et al.1994). There are now sites in nearly all regions of Australia dated towell over 30 000 years. Symbolic behaviour is represented by suchevidence as painted rock dated to 40 000 years in the Kimberley(O'Connor & Fankhauser 2001) and ritual burial practices atLake Mungo Lake Mungo is a dry lake in south-western New South Wales, Australia. It is located about 740 km due west of Sydney and 90 km north-east of Mildura. The lake is the central feature of Mungo National Park, and is one of seventeen lakes in the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes in New South Wales New South Wales,state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. (Bowler et al. 1970; Bowler & Thorne1976). In general the oldest radiocarbon dated deposits in Australia arethose with the best preservation of organic remains. This is hardlysurprising given the link between organic remains and [sup.14]C dating.Some of the best sequences spanning over 30 000 years are from threesites in Western Australia Western Australia,state (1991 pop. 1,409,965), 975,920 sq mi (2,527,633 sq km), Australia, comprising the entire western part of the continent. It is bounded on the N, W, and S by the Indian Ocean. Perth is the capital. , Devil's Lair, Mandu Mandu Creekrockshelter and Riwi (Figure 1). All of these sites have Pleistoceneevidence for symbolic behaviour including ochre and beads. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] At Devil's Lair three beads made from polished segments ofmacropod macropodmembers of the family Macropodidae; includes kangaroo, wallaby. fibulae found in different stratigraphic stra��tig��ra��phy?n.The study of rock strata, especially the distribution, deposition, and age of sedimentary rocks.strat horizons are dated tobetween about 12 000 and 19 000 BP (Dortch 1979). They are associatedwith stone artefacts and mammal remains, many of which represent theremnants of peoples' meals. Beads from the other two sites are madeof marine shell and, as they are associated with dates of 30 000 yearsBP or older, they are comparable to the early European beads. The Mandu Mandu beads Mandu Mandu Creek rockshelter is a small limestone cave in thewestern foothills of the Cape Range on the central coast of WesternAustralia. In 1989, 22 cone shells (Conus conus/co��nus/ (ko��nus) pl. co��ni ? [L.]1. a cone or cone-shaped structure.2. posterior staphyloma of the myopic eye. sp.) and fragments, alldeliberately modified as beads, were recovered from the basaloccupational horizon of a single 1 [m.sup.2] excavation. Dating to>32000 years BP, the majority of the shells derived from residueexcavated from the two western quadrants of the excavation at a depth ofbetween 82-91cm below the floor surface (Morse 1993). Two distinct forms of cone shell beads are present and shown inFigure 2(a). Six of the shells are intact but have had their apexperforated and their internal structure removed to form a hollowed outshell with a round hole at the top (Figure 2b). The largest of thesehave a length of 21.1mm and a maximum diameter of 12.4mm. A small notchworn into the edge of the shell at the posterior end of the aperture isclearly visible on the two best preserved whole shells (Figure 2c). Insome species of cone notches occur naturally in this position. The edgesof the notches on the modified shells are, however, abraded and growthlines visible on the shell surface under high magnification (40x) appearto have been cut or worn through by the notches. The simplestexplanation for this is that the notch has been worn into the shellmargin by a string on which the beads were threaded. Comparison ofnotches on similarly threaded ethnographic shell artefacts held in theWestern Australia Museum collection show analogous wear patterns. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] The second type of bead is a shell ring made from a section of thespire of each shell. As with the whole shells the apex of the shellrings has been perforated and a rounded hole formed. The result is ashell ring between 2.9 and 9.6mm long (mean length 6.3mm) and between7.2 and 12.7mm in diameter (mean diameter 10.06mm) Some of the shellrings are partially broken; measurements are the maximum that could betaken. Modifying Conus sp. shells to make beads like this is a two partprocess. First, the weakest part of the shell, the apex, needs to beremoved perhaps by piercing or by rubbing on an abrasive stone surface,and then the internal structure broken. This can be done by inserting afine stick into the hole and twisting it around. As a result of thisaction the edge of the hole in the shell apex becomes smoothed androunded. The pierced and hollowed shell can now be threaded on a string.It is unknown if the shell rings represent deliberate additionalmodification of the whole shell or are an inadvertent result ofmishandling of the structurally weakened shell during bead manufacture.While the apex on some modern and fossil cone shells is perforated, theresulting hole appears irregular and has a fine jagged edge.Significantly, in all the specimens examined, the internal structure ofthe natural shells is more or less intact. All the shells show evidentselection for size and genera. They are provisionally identified asCanus dorreensis a species which typically lives in shallow waters onreef platforms and in sand under rocks, environments consistent with thepredominantly reefed shoreline of the western coast of the Cape RangePeninsula. Shell collectors today actively seek cone shells. With over300 known species, they belong to one of the most diverse shell familiesin Australian waters (Wells & Bryce 2000). Their coloured andpatterned appearance makes them a distinctive addition to shellcollections and they are frequently used to make shell necklaces andother decorative ornaments. It seems not unlikely that 32 000 years agothe shells at this site were selected for similar reasons. In this context, the presence in later Pleistocene layers at ManduMandu Creek rockshelter of ochre and fragments of scaphopod (tusk shell)and pearl shell See Pearl oyster (Pinctada spp.), material typically associated withhuman decoration should be noted. Three other fragments of cone shellwere also recorded in layers provisionally dated at c. 21 000 BP. Whileequivocal, this evidence may point to a continuing tradition ofdecorative use of marine shell at this site. Riwi Ten shell beads were excavated from Riwi, a small shelter in aDevonian limestone formation in the Kimberley of Western Australia. Allare fragments of tusk shells belonging to the order Dentaliidae but, asnone of the fragments include the posterior part of the shell, it is notpossible to further classify the shells beyond saying that they couldrepresent eight species within the families Dentaliidae, Fustiariidaeand Laevidentaliidae (G. Kendrick pers. comm.). All were recovered atdepths between 15 and 25cm below the surface (stratigraphic units iii,iv, v & vi in Figure 3) and are associated with radiocarbon dates ofabout 30 000 years. Associated archaeological material includes stoneartefacts, ochre, bone and freshwater mussel mussel,edible freshwater or marine bivalve mollusk. Mussels are able to move slowly by means of the muscular foot. They feed and breathe by filtering water through extensible tubes called siphons; a large mussel filters 10 gal (38 liters) of water per day. shell (Balme 2000). Theseexcavation units are below a clear hiatus in deposition betweenstratigraphic layers ii and iii. Evidence for reduced occupation andsedimentation during the last glacial maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) refers to the time of maximum extent of the ice sheets during the last glaciation (the W��rm or Wisconsin glaciation), approximately 20,000 years ago. This extreme persisted for several thousand years. (LGM LGM Last Glacial MaximumLGM Little Green Men (Astronomical: first used as the designation for pulsars)LGM Lembaga Getah Malaysia (Malay: Malaysian Rubber Board)LGM The Lone Gunmen ) has been widelydocumented in central and north-western Australia (O'Connor &Veth 2006). The impact of the LGM is likely to have been felt muchearlier in Australian desert areas where there is evidence of reductionin surface water availability by 35 000 years ago (Hiscock & Wallis2004). The Riwi beads are made on shell fragments ranging in size from5.2-17.55mm with a mean of 12.5mm. Most are longer than 10mm. Thefragments used are from the anterior (or non tapering) end of the tuskshell--only one shows any curvature or tapering. Some have sinuous sinuous/sin��u��ous/ (sin��u-us) bending in and out; winding. sinuousbending in and out; winding. grooves around their circumference in one or two places along theirlength. These are common on modern scaphopoda and are natural in origin. A residue, visible to the naked eye, is present within the sinuousgrooves and on rough surface areas of the shells, notably the brokenends. Under a microscope x 50 this residue is dark red/black (Figure2d). A Hemastix test on two of these residue patches yielded positive'small' results suggesting that there may be some blood in theresidue. A study of dentalium breakage by Vanhaeren and d'Errico (2003)has shown that different manufacturing techniques result in differentcharacteristics to the fractured end of the shell. Openings on unbrokendentalium have regular edges and the posterior ends are thin and sharp.Fractured dentalium have irregular edges created by micro chipping.Fractures are either perpendicular or oblique to the main axis of the the diameter of the sphere which is perpendicular to the plane of the circle.See also: Axis fragment and often have a lip-like morphology. Sawing produces ends withtwo facets. One is oblique and covered with traces left by theto-and-fro movement of the cutting edge. The break resulting from sawingleaves a facet perpendicular to the main axis that is morphologicallysimilar to the one produced by snapped shell. The fractured ends on thebeads from Riwi display a variety of morphologies including straightfractures, notched fractures and undulations. One bead has a straightand an undulating end interpreted as the result of rubbing againststringing thread. One fracture exhibits chattering suggesting sawing(Figure 2e). These combinations indicate that the beads were produced bya combination of snapping and cutting. It is possible that some shellsproduced more than one bead. Scaphopoda beads are still made in coastal parts of the Kimberleytoday. In 1983 Moya Smith of the Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is the main museum for the state of Western Australia. recorded aBardi Bardi can refer to: Bardi, Italy, a city in the province of Parma, northern Italy Bardi bush, an Australian plant, Acacia victoriae Bardi (folklore), a shape-changing spirit or a rabid animal in Trebizond folklore who presages a death by wailing woman making a series of dentalium shell beads by placing anintact shell on a stone anvil anvilIron block on which metal is placed for shaping, originally by hand with a hammer. The blacksmith's anvil is usually of wrought iron (sometimes of cast iron), with a smooth working surface of hardened steel. and then applying pressure with the backof a knife to the shell which she then snapped along the knife edge. Theshells were considered to be too delicate to be directly cut with theknife. Opaque rings form along the length of scaphopoda shells and itmay be along these that the shell can be cleanly snapped. The rings mayrepresent change in the crystalline structure of the shell relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accseasonal or other factors determining their growth (S. Slack-Smith pers.comm). The Western Australian Museum holds a large collection ofethnographic strings of scaphopoda shell beads from the Kimberley. Manyof these are very long (about 4m) consisting of hundreds of beads strungon short strands of fibre and secured at both ends by small knots, whichare then tied together to form a single long strand. All beads are madeof fragments of anterior parts of the shell. Many of these beads werecleaned before they were accessioned by the museum but ochre preservedon the rough outer parts of the beads, in sinuous grooves and in the cutedges is common. Ochre appears as a dark red-brown residue and thesimilarity to the Pleistocene beads is remarkable. We conclude that theRiwi residues are likely to be ochre. By way of comparison to the Riwi beads we recorded the sizes ofbeads on a string collected by Tunney in the Kimberley in 1899. Thiscircular string is made up of 342 beads threaded on eight strings(between 340mm and 1225mm) tied together (Figure 2f). We measured 50 ofthese beads from one continuous strand. Bead length ranges from 8.5-21mm with a mean length of 15.3mm. This is a little longer than the Riwibeads. The string is twisted natural fibre but the species from which itis made is not recorded. Dark red-brown ochre residue is visible on thebeads (Figure 2g). It is reasonable to expect that the Riwi beads wouldhave been strung on similar fibre. A fibre fragment was observed on theend of one the Pleistocene beads (Figure 2h). The use of ochre as part of body painting and as colour fordecorative items by Aboriginal people is well documented and is acontinuing cultural tradition. The ochre noted on dentalium shell beadsin both the Western Australian Museum collections and at Riwi may havebeen part of the original bead decoration or may have been deposited asa result of the beads being worn during activities that involvedpersonal ornamentation and body decoration. This might explain the'small' positive Hemastix result for the Riwi bead residuealthough further testing is needed to confirm this. Although scaphopods are sub-tidal they are frequently found asempty shells on the coast and wash up on the shore in huge numbersfollowing tropical storms (Wells & Bryce 2000). Riwi is currently300km inland and, 30 000 years ago would have been at least 500km fromthe nearest sea. Such inland finds are not isolated in the Kimberley.Scaphopod beads have also been recovered from Carpenter's GapShelter 1, a cave in the same Devonian formation but about 200km west ofRiwi. The chronology appears to be similar but the precise age of theshell beads is not yet available (O'Connor 1995). It is worthnoting, however, that even at today's sea levels this site is over100km from the coast. Discussion Shell beads are one part of a suite of evidence for symbolicbehaviour found in the Australian Pleistocene record (see Brumm &Moore 2005) that together illustrate the consistency of behaviours andthe importance of body ornaments associated with anatomically modernhumans throughout the world. Indeed, it has been suggested that symbolicbehaviours were necessary for the successful colonisation of a newcontinent (e.g. Davidson & Noble 1992a, 1992b; Balme & Bowdlerin press). The shell beads discussed here point to an apparently widespreadand continued use of marine shell in the manufacture of decorativeornaments in Pleistocene Western Australia. Three aspects of the beadmanufacturing process indicate an investment in time and labour toensure a standardised ornament that, in turn, suggests the importance ofthe beads to their users. First, the shell species used were collectedspecifically for ornament making. In both sites discussed here, thespecies chosen is a non-edible marine shell with either decorativeproperties or a ready made capacity for threading. In addition, theuniformity in taxa and size indicates that shells appropriated forornamental purposes have been carefully selected and, it is worthnoting, that these two characteristics are also reported for the MSABlombos Cave beads (d'Errico et al. 2005:18). Second, the effortand skill required for cutting and/or boring and smoothing the shellsshould not be overlooked. Cutting or boring a hole in a shell withoutbreaking it is no easy task and in attempts made to duplicate shellbeads described here, the incidence of breakage was frustratingly high.Third, the extent of standardisation in the manufacture of both the Riwiand Mandu Mandu Creek beads is striking. Metric data from both show avery homogeneous size distribution, and it is evident that within eachgroup of beads, shells were being processed and deliberately modified bya variety of manufacturing techniques to conform to Verb 1. conform to - satisfy a condition or restriction; "Does this paper meet the requirements for the degree?"fit, meetcoordinate - be co-ordinated; "These activities coordinate well" a predeterminedstyle. Both sets of beads were transported. At Cape Range peninsula,shells collected from the coast were taken to a shelter at least 3-5kmfrom the shore. In the Kimberley region they were transported over adistance of some 300-500km. Two alternatives need to be considered intheir transportation as unmodified or as finished objects--the shellsselected for bead manufacture were either transported or they wereexchanged. There are no unmodified shells at Riwi but the presence ofone unmodified, very small cone shell at Mandu Mandu Creek rocksheltersuggests that these shells may have been modified as beads on site. Thisrockshelter is, however, within easy walking distance from the shellsource. Given the skills required in their manufacture it is likely thata substantial number of shells would be required in order to make astrand of beads. Thus, manufacturing beads in proximity to a readysource of shells--i.e. on the coast--would seem to be much moreeconomical in terms of effort and frustration. The Kimberley shells are amongst the earliest evidence for the longdistance procurement of raw materials in Australia and in this contextit is interesting that the exotic items are decorative objects. It ispossible that their manufacturers carried the beads inland and, if thisis so, it indicates very wide movement in the Pleistocene. Thealternative is that the beads were exchanged supporting previoussuggestions for pearl shell trade in the Kimberley by 19 000 BP(O'Connor 1999: 121). Brumm and Moore's (2005) recent review of the evidence forsymbolic activity in the Australian archaeological record The archaeological record is a term used in archaeology to denote all archaeological evidence, including the physical remains of past human activities which archaeologists seek out and record in an attempt to analyze and reconstruct the past. argues that,although there are some geographically and chronologically isolatedPleistocene examples of symbolic activity, an explosion of explicitlysymbolic behaviour like that seen in the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe(Henshilwood & Marean 2003; Mellars 2005) is not evident until themiddle to late Holocene. Thus Brumm and Moore (2005:168) suggest thatthe arguments linking the increased use of ornaments and exchange overlong distances to the decreased social isolation in the UpperPalaeolithic of Europe (White 1982) are also appropriate for theAustralian middle to late Holocene. In these arguments regional patternsin symbolic behaviour associated with the explosion are seen as a meansof group identity. If the beads discussed here pre-date the establishment of regionalpatterns in symbolic behaviour, they were presumably pre��sum��a��ble?adj.That can be presumed or taken for granted; reasonable as a supposition: presumable causes of the disaster. used to convey selfidentity or as social markers within the local group. There are manyexamples in recent Australian ethnohistoric source that Aboriginalpeople often wore beads in circumstances in which everyone was known bythe wearer. For example, Roth (1897:111) records necklaces made of grassbeads as being worn as a symbol of Aboriginal men and women who havepassed through the first stage of initiation in north-centralQueensland. What is difficult to explain is why people chose beads transportedfrom such a long distance for these purposes. Presumably otherornaments, including beads, were constructed from local materials suchas grass and seeds that have not survived in the archaeological record.Perhaps marine shell beads were more prestigious than ornaments madefrom readily available material. Whatever their use, the evidentselection of raw material and transportation associated with the shellbeads indicates the presence of wide networks in the early humanoccupation of Australia. Although the trade and exchange of beads does not necessarily implythat the beads' meanings were shared between the groups involved inthe transactions, the existence of exchange networks is important formaintaining relations between groups. It is interesting that the choiceof raw material for this exchange is marine shell. Fragments offreshwater mussel are present throughout the Riwi sequence but none haveevidence of modification. Land snails are also available in the area.The evident disregard for this locally available shell material impliesthat it was the marine source of the shell that was of somesignificance. It is not clear why, but perhaps maintenance of networksto coast was important in new environments especially at a time ofincreasing aridity. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Aboriginal communities who allowed thiswork--in the Kimberley the Mimbi community especially the seniorcustodians Morgal and Neville Sharpe, and in the Cape Range Syd Dale Syd Dale (May 20, 1924 – August 15, 1994) was born in York, England. He was a self taught composer and arranger of funk, easy listening and library music. His music played an important role on TV, radio and advertising media of the 1960s and 1970s. andMary and George Cooyou (both deceased) of the Kuwinywardu AboriginalCorporation (now the Gnulli Working Group). For discussions on makingdentalium beads with Min Smith and Kate Morse we thank Esther Paddy andAudaby Jack (both deceased) of the Djarindjin Community, DampierlandPeninsula. We would also like to thank Min Smith for telling us aboutthis work and, with Ross Chadwick, for arranging access to the WesternAustralian Museum collections. George Kendrick and Shirley Slack Smithof the Western Australian Museum identified the shell species. MarkHarvey Mark Harvey (born June 11 1965) is a former Australian rules football player who played for the Essendon Football Club. He played 206 games from 1984 to 1997, kicking 190 goals, and was assistant coach at Essendon from 1998 to 2005. of the Western Australian Museum and David Haig This article is about the actor David Haig. For other people, see David Haig (disambiguation).David Haig (September 20, 1955, Aldershot, England, UK) is an English actor and writer. of the Universityof Western Australia provided photographic advice. Vicky Winton drewfigures 1 and 3. Sandra Bowdler and Alice Gorman read a draft of thispaper and we thank them for their comments. References AMBROSE, S.H. 1998. Chronology of the Later Stone Age and foodproduction in east Africa. Journal of Archaeological Sience 25: 377-92. BALME, J. 2000. 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