THE AURIGNACIANS

Use of Aquatic Resources by the Aurignacians

Use of Aquatic Resources by the Aurignacians

Aquatic systems have been, and continue to be, important environments in the economies of Indigenous peoples throughout the world. Oceanic mammals, birds, fish, molluscs, crustaceans and plants have contributed to the sustainability of most societies at one time or another and have allowed many of these to prosper, expand and colonize other continents (Kurlansky 1998). For inland-dwelling peoples, rivers and lakes have served a similar function. The association of humans with rivers and lakes is obvious, since freshwater is indispensable to life, but the use of rivers and lakes goes far beyond simply for drinking water. Aquatic systems supply food, clothing, cooking utensils, carrying implements, ornaments and, of course, they and their fauna and flora loom large in Indigenous culture and mythology. Indigenous Australians have occupied Australia for about 50 000 years (Beveridge, 1998).

During that time, there is good evidence that they have been associated with rivers and lakes and exploited a vast range of their resources. Examples of early Aboriginal association with freshwater environments include fossils, middens and the sophisticated rock shoots and funnels of the Brewarrina Fisheries. More recent examples of the association of Indigenous people with rivers and lakes include European explorers' and anthropologists' accounts of the ubiquity of people around water bodies and the exploitation of animals, plants and minerals. Virtually all rivers in the Murray-Darling Basin have evidence of Aboriginal occupation, either through the presence of middens, scar trees or artifacts. Humans should not, however, simply be considered as exploiters of resources, but as, themselves, components of an ecosystem (Blandowski, 1995).

Indigenous Aurignacians, like Indigenous peoples throughout the world, were also environmental modifiers. They manipulated the physical environment to aid in the collection of components of the fauna including altering the physical environment to enhance the survival and growth of fish (Gilmore 1934), therefore carrying out a form of aquaculture. Thus, the aquatic environment encountered by Europeans was not in stasis; rather, it was dynamic and under the influence of, among other influences, the dominant humans of the time. The potential for Aboriginal people to modify aquatic environments in a substantial way through active manipulation has received much less attention than that of terrestrial environments. Indeed, this factor - along with the question of whether there have been any effects of their removal as primary participants in aquatic environments - is rarely discussed. Loss of any species from an ecosystem would normally elicit concern from scientists, whether it is for its intrinsic significance or for the effects its loss would have on other components of the ecosystem. Wholesale displacement and removal of Aboriginal Australians from their land associated with rivers and lakes in inland Australia began early in European settlement history, yet aquatic scientists have lagged well behind their terrestrial counterparts in asking pertinent questions such as: 'What role did Aboriginal people play in aquatic ecosystem?' '

What effect has their removal had on the biotic and biotic components of ...