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Symbolic revolutions and the Australian archaeological record

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journal contribution
posted on 2024-11-14, 15:58 authored by Mark W Moore, Adam Brumm
Australia was colonized by at least 40,000 bp and scientists agree that the continent was only ever occupied by anatomically and behaviourally modern humans. Australia thus offers an alternative early record for the archaeological expression of behavioural modernity. This review finds that the pattern of change in the Australian archaeological sequence bears remarkable similarity to the pattern from the Lower to Upper Palaeolithic in the Old World, a finding that is inconsistent with the 'symbolic revolution' model of the origin of modern behaviour. This highlights the need for archaeologists to rethink the implications of the various criteria and scales of analysis used to identify modern human behaviour.

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Citation

Brumm, A. R. & Moore, M. W. (2005). Symbolic revolutions and the Australian archaeological record. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 15 (2), 157-175.

Journal title

Cambridge Archaeological Journal

Volume

15

Issue

2

Pagination

157-175

Language

English

RIS ID

31962

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