the power of stone. symbolic aspects of stone use and tool development in western arnhem land,...

8/12/2019 The Power of Stone. Symbolic Aspects of Stone Use and Tool Development in Western Arnhem Land, Australia.pdf

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The power of stone: symbolic aspects ofstone use and tool development inwestern Arnhern Land, Australia

PAUL S.C. TAGONFor want of other secure ev idence, the s tudy of art in prehistoric societies normallyamounts to looking at pictures, though there must have also been sound, and surelymusic. The long lithic tradi tion of central northern Australia permits a rare insight in toanother kind of prehistoric art, the meaning a nd aesthetic order that may lie behind alithic industry.IntroductionArchaeolog is t s and an thropologis t s in manyparts of the wor ld have argued th at som e formsof s tone tools may be considered the oldestsurv iv ing forms of ar t made by m odern hum ans .Dther researchers , however, focusing on thefunct ional , pract ical , technological or envi m -mental aspects of s tone-tool manufacture, arehard-pressed to acknow ledge too l fo rms as ar t .Aspects of the aes the t ic may be recognized , bu tthe pieces are not a r t in the wes tern def in i tion .Part of the problem l ies wi th f inding a cross-cul tural , non-biased defini t ion of ar t (s ee Taqonin press) , and in most cases the s tone tools havesuch great an t iqu i ty tha t we ha ve n o ind igenousinsight i n t o aesthet ic and symbol ic aspects oftheir form.This has not s topped some f rom acknow-ledging an aesthet ic aspect to s tone tools . Forins tance , as early as 1859 some Ach eulean h an daxes we re view ed a s clearly wo rks of art(Ramsay 1859;Lye11 1873: 163) .As Isaac Isaac(1975: 2 0 ) note ,

The artistic impuls e appears to have manifested itselfin exceptional individuals long before the UpperPalaeolithic period, indeed probably from the dawnof tool-making. The great Acheulian hand-axe [Pl. I ]from the gravels at Furze Platt, Maidenhead, isevidently the product of an artistic craftsman. It hasbeen suggested that a masterpiece of such size andbeauty may well have been treasured by th e tribe.However , there has been much debate andothers have argued tha t Acheulean axes are th ick an d c lumsy (Osborne 1916: 178) or thatd i fferences in the i r w orkm anship i s s imply du eto the sk i l l o f t he work man , the l eng ths to w h i c hhe has carr ied his wo rk, or the qual i ty of the rawmaterial (Boule Val lois 1957: 149).In regard to S olutrean tools , how ever, there ismuch more agreement that they are beaut i fulob jec ts manufactured wi th m uc h art (BouleVallois 1957: 262). Henry Osborne, in part i -cu lar , has no ted the i r aes the t i c and syn ibo l icsignificance (1916:344-5; see also figure 16 9, p.339 for example 130 :

practical nioti\.os.Fur thermore , Kenneth Oakley adds (1972: 83 :

examples of these spt:ar heads are the famous pointesd e laurier, fourteen in number, discovered a t Volgu,SaBne-et-Loire, in 1873: they were found together as a

* Div is ion of h t h r o p l o g y , The A u s t r a li a n M u s c u m , PO Box A205. S y d n c y South, N S W 2000. Aus t ra l i aA s I I ( ( ~ I > f i 5 (l 491): 192-207


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ASPECTS 1 TONE USE AND T OOL DEVELOPMENT 1N WESTERN ARNHEM LAND 1 Y 3votive offering, for one at least was colored red, andall were too fragile and delicate to be of any use in thechase. They are of unusual s ize , the smallest meas-uring 9 inches, and the largest over 136. In work-manship they are equalled only by the marvellousNeolithic specimens of Egypt and Scandinavia.

More recently, in Ontario, Canada, Joan Vast-okas has argued that aesthetic sensibilit ies aredetected as early as 10,000 BC in the flakingpatterns of stone tools made in the Palaeo-Indian period (Reid Vastokas 1984: 15);sheincluded a stone point from this period in a1984 exhibition on native and European art atthe Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. In Arcticarchaeology, Robert McGhee (1976) has arguedsimilarly, stating that its earliest chipped stonetechnology, the Arctic Small Tool tradition(ASTt), suggests in the forms andcraftsmanship employed that it served as ameans of artist ic expression. He elaborates(1976: 205):Although all ASTt s tone artifacts appear to be func-tional, an aesthetic element i n their manufacture issuggested by the choice of fine-grained and highlycoloured materials, decorative seriation of edges,extremely fine and detailed workmanship, and astriking regularity in the forms of certain tools pro-duced over great geographical and temporal dis-tances.

One of McGhees premises is that art con-ceived as aesthetic intent may be expressedthrough technology as well as through otherfacets of human culture, and it is the technologywhich remains in the ground (1976: 204). Ofcourse, art is more than just aesthetics as sym-bolism. The context of use, and the communica-tive capacity of an object, or expressivemeaning, are also most important and helpdifferentiate purely functional objects from artobjects.

The remoteness of time and culture of mostlithics tends to preclude a consideration of theaesthetic, and lithic studies end up narrowlyfunctionalist. Paul Mellars (1970) first mademention of this problem in reference toAcheulean and Solutrean material (1970: 85):

One would be hard pressed to explain the totaldisappearance of the long-lived handaxe form at theend of the Middle Palaeolithic phase in any convinc-ing functional terms. The same could be said of the

abrupt appearance and disappearance of bifacially-worked, leaf-shaped points during th e French Solu-trian ep isode. These and many other variations inPalaeolithic industries must surely represent conspi-cuous changes in tool morphology which bear littlerelation to the basic activities being performed.

Most recently, Gero (1989) has shown that thenarrow functionalist argument tells us little andthat all lithics have meaning. She proposes amethod for extracting social information fromstone tools and argues (1989: 103):material objects are essential, active agents in themaintenance of complex social relations. They notonly stand as tangible abbreviations for the quantityand quality of resources that a n individual has accessto, but also the product ion and acquisition of newclasses of objects places groups of producers andconsumers in new relations to one another.Furthermore, she concludes that focusing onlithics in this light offers new insights, both intothe adoption of particular lithic forms and intothe socialimaterial world more generally (1989:103).

In western Arnhem Land, northern Australia(FIGURE)we have a rare opportunity to gain adirect insight into lithic meaning and can carryi t into the archaeological record going backseveral thousand years. We can go far beyond

oburgI p en i n su l a-urigr n h e mL a n a

FIGURE. Location map sk wing Kakadu, ArnhemLand and G u r i g .


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194 PAUL S.C. TA ;ONeven Geros s tudy as there is m u ch e t hnog ra -phic informat ion to provide unders tanding .In th i s paper , the n , the in ten t is not to re-define art but to broaden our under s t and i ng ofthe range of objects that can and should beconsidered a s ar t . Specif ical ly , a growing bodyof e thnographic ev idence su ppor t s the conten-t ion that many forms of s tone tools producedover the past 6000 years in wes tern ArnhemLand have bo th aes the t i c an d sym bol ic valuewhich in f luenced the i r manufacture . M uch ofthis is related to ideas abou t power: the po wer ofAncestral Beings that created the landscape,inc lud ing rocky ou tcrops u sed as quarr ies ; thepower and proper t i es of s tone as a subs tance ,and especia l ly quar tz a nd quar tz i t e ; the po werof in it ia ted males wh o m ad e, used an d con-trolled access to cer ta in s tone too l s ; and soforth . Som e of this pow er wa s harnessed duringthe manufacture and la ter was he igh tenedthrough r i tua l , story-tel ling an d othe r pract ices .Some of the changes in tool types detected inthe archaeological record c an be related to theseaspects of the belief sy stem . Two specific regio-nal examples are d raw n, from G ur ig Nat ionalPark (C obourg Penin sula) a nd K akadu N at ionalPark, to i l lus trate this . Final ly , i t i s sho w n that anarrow funct ional is t view l imits our under-standin g of stone tool chang e.Ancestral Beings, the origin of stone andother symbolismThe idea that s tone tools have or had greatsymbol ic meaning for Aborigines in northern

Austral ia is not new . Lauris ton S har p (1952), orins tance , demons t ra ted th e great economic an dsymbolic value of s tone axes among the YirYoront of nor t h Queens l and . The s t one axe ,prominent in in terpersonal re la t ions , in thetotem system and in the larger bel ief system,was a l so a symbol o f mascul in i ty and of age;axes be longed to o lder m en f rom w ho mwom en an d t he young had to bo r row t hem . Inthe borrowing , the s ta tus , pos i t ion an d pow er ofolder males was reinforced.More recen t ly , Sco t t Cane (1988) has po in tedto symbol ic and ceremonial s ignif icance ofvarious s tone tool forms for Aborigines of theCentral an d W estern Desert region of A ustral ia .Specif ical ly , Kimbe rley points were ident i f iedby Aborigines as implem ents use d for sorceryor ceremonial act ivi t ies whi le leilira bladeswere said to have bee n u sed in sel f-mut i lat ionceremonies a nd f ighting (Cane 1988:91 ).JonesWhi te (1988),discussin g the sym bol ic s igni-ficance of stone tools among Aborigines ofeas tern Arnhem Land , no te c er ta in s tone too l sas the e xclus ive proper ty of men; also s tonesf rom cer ta in quarr ies had h igh pres t ige andwere bel ieved to be imbued with myst icalproper ti es wh ich ma de them m uc h sought af teras parts of a fighting mans armory (JonesWhite 1988: 51; see a l so Jones 1990).In wes tern Arnh em Lan d , s tone axes , spear -po in ts a nd o ther too l s were a l so recognized asbelonging to men. The most s ignif icant hadfur ther symbol ic power ; they were conceived toembody the essence of Totemic Heroes and

F I G U R I ~. N a m n r r g o nthe Ligh tn ing M a n ,with stone axe sa t t a c h e d to h i s l i m h s ,p a i n t e d byNajornbolrn i i n 1964.Nour lang ie , K a k u d uN a t i o n a l Park


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ASPEC?S OF STO NE USE AND TOO L DEVELOPMENT IN LVESTEKN AKNIIEM LAND 195

Ancestral Beings that shaped and formed theworld in the distant Dreamtime past. This is oneof their most important aspects, making thetools more efficient and reinforcing a maleconnection to creativity for Aborigines.

According to Aboriginal elders, the land-scape was formed by the actions of AncestralBeings, such as the Rainbow Serpent (Taylor

FIGURE.behind on this wall in Deaf Adder Gorge, KakaduNational Park, after bringing important ceremoniesto the people in the Dreamtime.

Mandjawilpil (Djowog) left his image

FIGURE. The UbirrRainbow Serpent ,Kakodu NationctlPark. The Serpent issaid to have enteredthe landscape ot thislocation.

1990: 331),Bula the first barramundi , Gulinj theflying-fox man, Namarrgon the Lightning Man ,who produces lightning by smashing stone axesattached to his limbs (FIGURE ) , and othercreatures. At many locations the Beings entereddirectly into the landscape after their travelsand creative acts, often leaving their imagesbehind on the rock surface (FICXJRJS3 4). Alarge number turned into stone a t their finalresting place. In other cases, the Rainbow Ser-pent, one of the most potent of all Beings,swallowed other Ancestors and then was forcedto vomit their bones, which then formed therocky sandstone and quartzite escarpment andother geological features of the landscape(FIGURE; see T q o n 1989a: 211-70 and Taylor1990 for a review of some of these). In easternArnhem Land similar beliefs persist. As JtmesWhite note (1988: 55): It is the connections ofthese beings with the quar ries that i s said to givethe stone its special properties and to imbue theplace with its major spir itual significance.

In western Arnhem Land, Aborigines madeseasonal camps in the shelters located a t thebase of the escarpment and adorned the wallsand ceilings with thousands of hand or hand-and-arm stencils (FIGURE) . monochrome andpolychrome paintings (FIGLJRE).By stencillingarid painting they bonded more closelv withspecific sites and tapped directly into the powerof the Ancestral Beings I jpresented in animal,human or mythical form. As Howard Morphy(1987) has explained, the art of western


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l )ti PAIJL S.C. TAGON

Arnhem Land p rojects images of that al ternat ivereali ty onto rock surfaces , so that tho ancest rald imens ion can be d i rec t ly exper ienced (1987:3 2 .Furthe rmor e, analysis of we stern Arnh emLand rock art (Taqon 1989a) has revealed tha tthrough the product ion of some forms, s u c h a sX-ray paintings of creatures with internalfeatures i l lus t rated, Aborigines tappe d into thecreat ive power of the original AncestralDreamtime Beings at specific geological si tes(TaCon 198Ya: 375).

F ' I ( ; L I ? ~ :. flanrl-and-urn stencils cvere madei t numerous sites in

ivestrrn Arnhem Land1 strengthen the bondbet w e e n i 11d ivid uals ,sit^ and associatedkriowletlgr:.

FIGURE. Large,unusual outcrops ofsandstone and quartzitethat dominate thelands cape in westernArnhem land ar eassociated withpowerful AncestralBeings.

Most X-ray rock art was produced over thepast 1400 to 3000 years when f reshwaterenvironmental condi t ions, s imilar to those oftoday , developed and pers i s ted in Wes ternArnhem Land . However , some very s implemo noch rom atic red X-ray forms may be as oldas 6000-8000 years, but the y are m uc h lessdeta il ed and m os t o f ten inc lude on ly one or twointernal features . The recent X-ray paint ingsusual ly incorporate three or more internalelem ents , an d represe ntat ions of th e inter iors t ructure of creature s range from highly natural -


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ASPECTS OF STON E USE AND TOOL DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN ARNHEM LAND 197

istic to very abstract. Red, yellow, white andpurple are the predominant colours, but orange,pink, black and, most recently, European-derived blue were used on occasion. Colourcombinations in paintings vary across the land-scape and reflect the availability of pigmentsmore than clan or moiety preferences. Never-theless, it is combinations of colour in andaround anatomical features that are most impor-tant for conveying abstract ideas related to theart, such as Dreamtime beliefs associated withsites, subjects and motifs. One of the mostimportant was the conveying of Ancestralpower through the use of bright combinations ofpigment in solid, hatched and, especially,cross-hatched bands or blocks. This adds iri-descence, likened to rainbows and RainbowSerpents, as well as brightness, associatedwith other Ancestral Beings, to the images. It isthis feature that makes them most powerful.Significantly, the greatest degree of elaborationin this sense occurred only within the last 1000years. It is during this period that hatching andcross-hatching was used most frequently, withthe internal structure of some subjects beingcomposed almost entirely of this design (FIGURE8 .Along with the X-ray paintings of humans,animals and mythical beings, numerous solid orstroke infill subjects were created. These differfrom their X-ray counterparts only in terms ofinternal detail and otherwise have a similarform. Aboriginal people argue they depict

FIGURE. An X-rayb ar ram u n d i , a c o m m o nsubject in the mo s trecent body of rock ar t .Deaf Ad de r Gorge,Kakadu National Park .deador cookedbeings while X-ray paintingsdepict living creatures. However, the X-ray arthas greater potential for expressing meaning,due to its multi-layered form and structure, andthe various forms of colour combinations usedto create symbolic resonance. Painting somecreatures with brilliant rainbow colour thusenabled Aborigines to tap into the Ancestralforce believed to be inherent in the landscape.

This is also one of the reasons particularpieces were repainted or superimposed over.The retouching and repainting changed theshelter art back from dull to brilliant, andallowed Aborigines to make contact with thecontinuing cycle of spiritual and physical exist-ence. In the process it reaffirmed the Aboriginalpast and present for the artists and theirextended families. It also helped ground themin both time and space. Through painting. aswell as myth and ritual, Aboriginal creativitybecame united with natural creativity. andAborigines intensified their links and bondswith the larger natural and supernatural world.

The production of X-ray paintings at sites hasoccurred for roughly 6000 years. Certain typesof stone tools also played a r6le in intensifyingthe links and bonds between Aborigines and thelarger universe. Many quartzite shelter sites inthe Mount Brockman, Nourlangie and DeafAdder Gorge regions of Kakadu were used asquarries FIGIJRES 10) ; he raw material wasbelieved to be the petrified remains of the bonesof certain Ancestral Beings. The completed


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PAUL S.C. TA(;ON

FIGI:KE8 An X-ray barramun di with extensive hatched and cross-hatched infill. I n j u l u k , Oeripellibifacial points an d unifacial l a u w k points weremade more powerful and effective in huntingand warfare as they were seen to contain theessence of the creatures that formed the sitesfrom which the raw stone was obtained. Bycareful choice of colour and workmanship,aesthetic attributes were added to the pieces.This human meative dimension furtherstrengthened the creative bond between thetool-makers and t he Ancestral landscape.Examples of th is may bc found in many parts ofwestern Arnhem Land, including GurigNational Park where sources of stone are rareand Kakadu National Park where they areabundant

A further link between the tools and Anccs-tral power is that quartzite and quartz tools attimes shimmer with bright refleLtcd l ight or arealmost iridescent. This is a most importantquality, as iridescence and brightness arcassociated with both life and Ancestral Beings(Taqon 1989a: 319-42). Thi s attribute makesrainbows and Rainbow Serpents extremelypotent as natural and supernatural phenomena,for instance, and is one of the reasons quartz isoften associated with medicine men, KairibowSerpents and sacred rituals. In eastern Arnhem


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A S P E C T S OF STONE USE A N D TOOL DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERh ARNHE M L A N D 199

Land, Morphy (1989) has noted a similar sym-bolic system that emphasizes bright, shimmer-ing and iridescent light. Objec,ts that exhibitbrightness, such as fat, blood, quartz, quartzi te,cross-hatched white pigment and so forth, areboth aesthetically appealing and spirituallycharged with power.Gurig National ParkSources of stone with a hardness, strength andquality suitable for the production of stone toolsare rare on the Cobourg Peninsula. Conse-quently, bifacial stone points, axe heads, uni-facial l a u w k points and other tools were oftentraded into the area from the south (see FIGURE11 and TaCoii 1988).When a local stone sourcewas found, it was often given heightened signi-ficance by associating it with powerful , danger-ous forces. This not only helped control accessto and use of the site but also reinforced thepower and pres tige of both the managers of thequarry site and the owners of the tools madefrom i t .

A small ironstone quarry known as Argalargaor Thunder Rock is located near the SmithPoint Ranger Station. It consists of a smalloutcrop (10.1 x 9.2 m) of unusually hard,durable ironstone at the end of a small pen-insula (FIGURE2 ) . Numerous axe blanks wereremoved, and a completed axe now resides inthe Smith Point collection (Taqon 1988: 68;FIGLJRE3). According to Aboriginal elders,

FIGLIRE0. A c l o s e - u pv ie w o f f l a k e s a n d corest h a t l i tt e r t h e s h e l t e rq u a r r y floor. DeafA d d e r G o rg e , K a k a d uN a t i o n a l Pa r k .

Thunder Rock is a dangerous site; a vine associ-ated with it is especially significant and hazard-ous. It is said to bring about a persons death bycutting the vine and calling out the name inGurig (Cobourg Peninsula Sanctuary Board1987: 33). The area is said to attract electricalstorms an d, indeed, th e first storm of the seasonstruck a few hours after the author visited thesite in 1987.

Elsewhere in Gurig National Park, stone wasused in some of the more restricted ritualactivities conducted by certain clans. A stonearrangement site in the interior may be theresult of such activity (TaCon 198Yb: 35-61, Amore convincing site, consi sting of at least 2 9grinding grooves in a large outcrop of laterite(ironstone),can be found on a peninsula north-west of Raffles Bay. The grooves are spread overan area measuring 8.5 x 3.5 m, and the site isassociated with rain-making and other cere-monies. Three grinding stones of tubular late-rite were located near the grooves. They areunlike those associated with food preparationsites, and are likely the tools used to make thegrooves. The site is not a stone-axe sharpeningsite; Aboriginal elders remarked that the site hasgreat cultural significance and is consideredsacred (Taqon 1988: 13-14). It is located in anarea that attracts frequent lightning strikes(Dave Lindner pers. comm. 1987); or the Abori-gines, lightning an d resulting rain storms can beattracted to th e area by grinding stone on stone.


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200 PAUL. S.C. TAGON

Here, humans can harness the power of naturethrough the appropriate rituals and by usingspecial stone tools at the appropriate stone sites.

Kakadu National ParkVarious forms of stone have long been recog-nized as symbolically powerful in the greaterKakadu region, even though sources and quar-ries are much more common there. Most large

FIGIJR~:1. Stoneand glass tools f r o mGurig National Park.The second tool infrom t h e upper left-hand corner is aquartzite lauwkmifacial spear-pointtraded from t h eKukadu region.stone arrangements, for example, are con-sidered to he very sacred, and often are said tohave been made by Dreamtinie Beings (Taqon1989a: 248-50). Later they were used by men forsome of the most sacred rituals and to teachinitiates (Arndt 1962; 1966;Taqon 1989a;1990).Other stone piles and rows made by Aboriginalmen were also used in sacred rituals. Initially,stones were arranged to mark the ritual sites hut

F I G I . ~ :2 . Argcilargaor Thu nder Rock,arare qtiarry anddu ngerou s site G urigNut io n Park


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A S P E C T S OF S TONE USE A N D TOOL DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN ARNHEM L A N D 201

later they came to play an important role in thepractices performed. Among other things, theirpresence and permanence reaffirmed the powerand long-lasting persistence of religiousknowledge associated with the site, as well asthe larger natural and supernatural environ-ment (Taqon 1990: 2 1 ) .

Furthermore, clefts and holes in the rockyescarpment were frequently used for secondaryburials. In essence, the bones of dead humanswere placed among the bones of AncestralBeings, and the association between the twogroups again reinforced. After human deathonly the bones remain, and this sense of per-manence is said to be the same as that associatedwith stone and human or animal spirits (Taqon1990:2 2 ) . This is true outside Kakadu as well; inwestern Arnhem Land both stone and bone aresymbols of persistence and immortality, amongother things, because of their enduring quality.

This idea may have partially influenced somestone-tool production, in terms of materialpreference and the acquisition or developmentof new technologies. Specifically, JonesJohnson (1985:1 9 2 , 2 0 6 )have noted the suddenappearance of quartzite-dominated layers inarchaeological deposits from Deaf Adder Gorgebeginning about 6000 years BP and continuingto the present. Also (1985: 199),

FIGURE3. Large stoneaxes from GurigNational park. Thelargest piece, to the left,was likely quarriedfrom Argalarga.

Older layers in the deposit were dominatedby chert or quartz. A sample for radiocarbondating was chosen at he beginning of the rise inquartzite and the location of the lowermostbroken bifacial point. This gave a value of5860F90 [b.p.] (ANU-3180) (Jones Johnston1985: 206). Jones Johnston conclude thatpoints were not being made here ca. 6100 yearsago, but were being made and used 5700 yearsago (1985: 206). This date corresponds wellwith the final rise in sea levels to the north, andthe first instances of polychrome paintings withinternal features produced at the same ornear-by sites (Taqon 1989a). Between 3000years BP and 2200 years BP there also was aflorescence in quartzite use at the Lindner site(Jones &Johns ton1985: 192) .

Although a small number of tools were madefrom volcanic materials, such as dolerite, mostwere fashioned from quartz, chert or quartziteduring all time periods. The quartzite is a hardgrey, white or pink siliceous recrystallizedsandstone, but a coarser-grained quartzite orsilcrete (hardened sandstone) was used on occa-sion. It was obtained from nunierous quarriesalong the edge of the sandstone and quartziteescarpment. The cherts used vary in colour andgrain, but most found in the upper units ofexcavations are deep red in colour while thoseat lower levels are mottled red and white.Aboriginal elders argue the red chert is superiorprimarily because of its rich, full colour. Chertswere traded into the area frommetres t o the OfKakadu National Park (Jones Johnston 1985:188-90). Quartz, 011 the other hand, is abundantthroughout Western Arnhem Land, and large

At the Lindner Site, Nauwalabila I, of the entirecollection of 45 pieces, 39 of them or ca. 87% of thetotal were made from quartzite, three from chert andthree from quartz. This indicates the same degree ofpreponderance of quartzite as the preferred med iumfor manufacture of points at Jimeri 11 where 84% ofthem were of this rock type.

in what is now Stage


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2 0 2 PAIJI. S.C. TA(,DNcrystals, lag stones and bands can be found increeks. on flood plains and in local bedrock.Artefacts were made mostly from a milkyquartz, which varied in quality from a hardcompact variety to one tha t tended to break upalong tabular cleavage plains within the rock.Sometimes, however, clear crystals of quartzhad been used th e cutting properties of theedges were of the highest quality (JonesJohnston 1985: 190) .

Allen (1989), ones (1985),Kamminga&Allen(1973).Schrire (198%) nd others have noted aconsistent depositional pattern i n th e archaeo-logical record of Western Arnhem Land. Astypified by the Lindrier Site, Nauwalab ila I ,artefacts m a d e of quartz dominate the lowestlevels, a t a depth below c. 1.30m, and comprisebetween 45-85% ofartefacts recovered. The use ofquartz peaked between 14,000 and 20,000 yearsago and Jones Johnston suggest the cessationfor its use being associated with the bui ldup ofthe valley floors sandsheet covering the layer ofcrystals at the base of the near-by cliff-footapron (1985: 191). Flaked artefacts, such asgeneralized scrapers, uti lized edge tools, coresand retouched quartz crystals are predominant.

The middle section of deposits is domina tedby chert tools. Their presence peaks between adepth of0.85-1.00 m at 70-78%. The cherts arered with white flecks while those higher up aredark maroon. The beginning phase of thisdominance was gradual, with a steadyreplacement of quartz by chert between depthsofca. 1.40 and 1.10m. i.e. between ca . 1 4 arid 10kyr ago. However its end was a relativelysudden event (Jones Johnston 1985: 192).Artefacts consis t of generalized scrapers, util-ized edge tools, cores and a few rejuvenatedflakes and steep-edge scrapers, much the samea s the quartz-dominated layers below.A s was noted above, quar tzi te flakes arid toolsdominate the uppermost levels of deposits atrock sh c l t e r sites, beginning abruptly at depthsdated to about 6000 years ago. Besides a red-uced sample of the range of tools found in lowerdepths, points and adzelchisel slugs are foundfor the f i rst time. Points are most often madefrom quartzite while adzelchisel slugs wereprimarily made from high quality cherts . Theyconsist of small , flat, tabular pieces usuallyelongated (Jones Johnston 1985: 206) and arebelieved to have been hafted for use as highpressure implements for cutting and scraping.

Adzelchisel slugs appear in the archaeologicalrecord about 2000 years after the first stonepoints (1985: 206-8).

However, at wetland sites, 011 flood plains,the pattern is different. These open sites, lessthan 1400 years of age, contain surface scattersof tools primarily made of quartz. Quartz consti-tutes 50-65% of all pieces whi le hard quartziteaccounts for only 15-306 (Meehan et aJ. 1985:138). Test excavations of wetland sites yieldeven less quartzite (1985: 149). Points are rarebut scrapers, adzeichisel slugs and rejuvenatedor polished flakes are common. There are likelyfunctional , situational and symbolic reasons forthe differences as raw quartz is commonlyavailable at flood plain sites, seasonal activitiesdifferent from those practised at plateau siteswere engaged in and many of the flaked toolswere used by both sexes (1985: 108-34). Quartz-ite points and blades appear to have been usedsparingly but during ceremonies at these sitesthey may have been an important trade itemamong men. Ethnographic testimony fromKapirrigi states that members of his clan fromDeaf Adder Gorge used to go to the wetlandedges during the dry season and exchange storiespear-points for Phragmites an d bamboo spearshafts amongst other things (1985: 135).During the last 1000 years large blades weremore frequently made, used an d traded. Theselong, pointed l u u w k s (FIGUKL4) were made

FIGLJKE4 .Kakudu Nat iona l Park.A large l a u w k blade froni Nourfangic,


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ASPECTS OF STONE l JSE AND TOOL DEVELOPMENI IN WESTERN ARNHEM LAND 203

FIGURE5.tipped spea r protrudi ng from its neck. This w s a most effective a nd prestigious way of killing largemacropods.

The large polychrome X-ray painting of a kangaroo (1.82 m x 2.07 m) has a 1.47 m lauwk-

primarily for hunting large animals, such askangaroos (FIGURE5) , an d for combat. Theexclusive property of men , they were quarriedfrom relatively few sites. Harry Allen (1989)notes the specialized nature of large blade-manufacturing sites at the top of MountBrockman, in Deaf Adder Gorge and elsewhere.He concludes that l auwks were producedunder different social circumstances to thesmall projectile points. Small points, in theKakadu region, appear to have been producedor completed at ordinary habitat ion sites (Allen1989: 115). Jones White (1988) have docu-mented the ritual activity and symbolic signifi-cance of similar specialized quarries in easternArnhem Land. At these sites a stone toolskilling power comes from the stone source,according to Aborigines, for i t is the powerwithin the stone which saps the life out of itstarget (Jones &W hi te1988: 61; see a lso McKen-zie 1983 and Thomson 1983: 67-8).

Jones (1990) elaborates further by explainingthe layers of inside an d outside meaning associ-

ated with various layers of material foundwithin large quartzite stones. Significantly, theinnermost layer, from which blades are struck,is likened to kidney fat, a prized food andritually important substance among ArnhemLanders. Among other things , fat is bright andshiny, and this sense is linked to brilliant.luminous and iridescent Ancestral powerwhich, in turn, is connected to the forces thatare responsible for life and death (Jones 1990:2 7 ) :The outer hydrated layer was referred to as thecooked skin. Inside thi s was a think crystalline layercalled militj, a word meaning white.but especiallyin the context of a respected el der and havingreference to white hair. Finally wi thin the best stoneswas a fine siliceous quartzite having a translucentpinkish-grey colour. This rock was called larrdjukurr, literally fat flaking stone. The te rm djukurrhas many meanings. At the most secular level itmeans fat , especially the highly valued fat withinand around the kidneys.

The cross-section of a flaked core was seen as being


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204 PAUL S.C. T A G O Nsimilar to that of kidney , the inorganic mimickingthe organic. Yet within the r itual rea lm, the inorganicwas seen as being the qu intessence of the organic,Lontaining its true being. In this sense, djukurr wasseen as power,and it was this intrinsic power withinthe ngambi spear blades that caused such a searingburning pain; it was this which made the blood flowfreely and which sapped away the life of any animalor man hit bv one.

There were higher, more restricted meanings to thisconcept of power, o which I was not privy, except ina general sense.

The r i se in quar tz i t e use appears to be int i -mately associated wi th the em ergen ce of s tonepoin t t echnology in Arnhem Land . It isadvanced here that i t also is l inked to the r iseand d evelopment o f de ta i l ed po lychrome X-rayrock art . Often large s ites an d nea r-by areas wereused as cam ps , quar ries a nd gal ler i es dur ing thesame period. A mon g t radi t iona l Aborigines ofthe contemporary per iod , quar tz i t e was con-sidered to be the petr i f ied bones of AncestralBeings (see above). By p aint ing at q uartzi te s i tesone could tap into the power of those Beings.One could also harness power for part icularpurposes by fash ion ing lauwks an d o ther too lforms from quartzi te; the sh imm erin g effect thep ieces have in sun l igh t ensured tha t they wouldbe magically charged an d effective. Further-more, when chert was used for tool-making i twas chosen accord ing to i ts de ep r i ch co lour ,again considered to produce a more powerfuland effective artefact.Therefore, i t i s conten ded tha t a larger sym -bolic context enco mp asses both quartzi te s tonetools and so l id red cher t too l s wi th thosepolychrome rock paint ings that i l lus t rate i r i -descence th rough cross -hatched , ha tched andX-ray infi l l . Their s imul taneous emergenceabout 6000 years ago is not c o inciden ta l . It isposs ib le the whole complex , which under l i esthe contemporary ideology, had i ts roots at thist ime. This may also correspo nd with th e arr ivalof Aboriginal populat ions from the ancient ,now-subm erged, Arafura plain to the no rth thatwere pushed inland by the f inal r ise in worldsea levels . Perhaps they brought the pointt echnology wi th the m , bu t i t is interesting tonote that earl ier forms of tools and art areattributed to thc Mimi by tradit ional Abori-gines . The M imi today inh abi t the area in spir i tform but, i t is said, the first Aboriginesencountered them pain t ing and l iv ing in the

rock shel ters . The Mirni s tories and mythsappear to em body exp er iences of a n ear ly formof cul ture contact and to describe cul turaladapta t ions an tecedent to those of the present(see Taqon 1989a: 395-7 .Between 3000 years BP an d t he p resen t, t h issymbol ic complex tha t focuses on powerfu llybright an d i r idesce nt substance s , the po tency ofAncestral Beings an d the relat ionsh ip of al l ofthis to cycles of hu m an an d an imal l ife , becamethoroughly entrenched in the bel ief system ofwes tern Arnhem Land Abor ig ines . It alsobecame one of its most impor tan t e lements(Taqon 1989 ).

Other features of the complex involving stoneOther aspects of the symbol ic use of s tone inwestern Arnhem Land should also be brief lymen t ioned. Firs t of al l , i t has been s ho w n thats tone is cons idered to be a m alesubstanc e notonly in this part of the world but also amongindigenous North Americans, pre-Cel t icpeoples o f the Uni ted Kingdom and o thergroups (Taqon 1990). In al l of these regions th eearth is a symbol of fer t i l i ty and femalenessbecause of the plant l i fe i t nurtures and sup-ports. As a co unterp art to earths more fragi leproduce , hard s tone was perce ived as a malephenom enon (Taqon 1990: 29). The hardnessof stone and th e fact that i t penetrates dee p intothe earth are obv ious reasons for it s adopt ion asa male symbol . S tone too l s such as spear -po in t sare a lso cons idered mascul ine as, w h e n a i m e dproperly, th ey, l ike p enises , pene trate f lesh.Jones (1990: 26) , for instance, has noted thissymbol ic connect ion between s tone quarr ies ,spear -po in t s , men an d pen is i n eas tern ArnhemLand:The complex ofquarries is located wi thin the estate ofthe Marra-lam-mirri patrilineal clan, the n ame beingtranslated literally as head-stone flake belongingto. Sometimes the cl an was referred to as Gurrka-larr-mirri; the word gur rka is penis , aving an allegoricalmeaning here, of the very essence of a man. Theanalogy of the shape and penetration of spear-pointand penis is probably also involved.

Because red , ye l low and o ther co louredochres were ob ta ined f rom the ear th , an d resem-ble co loured so i l when groun d in to a p igment ,they were seen to be female ; an d they h ad to bemixed w ith wate r , anothe r creat ive, l ife-giving,female symbol , before appl icat ion. W hen bright


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ASPECTS O F S T O N E USE AND TOO L DEVELOPMENT IN WESTERN ARNHEM LAND 2 5pigment is applied to rock surfaces, male andfemale symbols are united to produce an especi-ally powerful object or image that is believed toresonate Ancestral power. It is the pigment thatadds life and vitality to objects. This is one ofthe reasons some ceremonial stone tools orsacred mens marrayen stones were paintedwith pigment (see Spencer 1928: 830-43, figure545; Mountford 1956), while functional stonetools were not. By painting stone with brightpigment, objects attained a much higher level ofritualiceremonial significance. Some became sopowerful they had to be hidden from the weakand uninitiated so that harm would not befallthem (Taqon 1989a: 395; Jones 1990: 29).Quartzite blades, already seen to be especiallypotent, had to be distributed across the land-scape through trade for, in addition to anyaspects of economic self interest, the trade wasalso driven by an imperative to spread thispower in ngambi points as widely as possible(Jones 1990: 29).In order to tap into the ultimate life-givingpowers of Ancestral Beings it was necessary forAborigines to unite male and female together, aswith sexual intercourse. Much of this, forinstance, is central to the Rainbow Serpentmythology of Western Arnhem Land andbeyond (Taylor 1990: 330-31). As stone spear-points were used to bring about death, ratherthan life, it was also important to keep themuncontaminated from aspects of femaleness.Stone spear-points, therefore, were made, ownedand used by males (Jones 1990: 25-8); they werenot adorned with aesthetic qualities considered tobe linked to the female realm. Similarly,woodenobjects also hard, rigid and male,and withsources, trees, that penetrate and are nurtured bythe earth were most often painted if they wereto be used in ceremonies concerned with life orthe after-life (marrayen pieces, hollow logcoffins, bark paintings, and so forth). What wasmost important about stone tools, such as spear-points, in terms of aesthetics, was the substancefrom which they were made and where it camefrom and, at times, the care and degree ofworkmanship. It was also necessary that theirmale qualities not be covered over so that theyremain potent to penetrate flesh and, in theprocess, to be pa inted with blood.ConclusionsHumans have long been fascinated by the

properties of stone. Hardness, durability,colour, coarseness, size and situation in largerlandscapes are but a few of the qualities thathave stimulated human imagination and inter-est. Responses have been both symbolic andaesthetic, with many stone landscapes acquir-ing fantastic origin myths and specific sitesbeing marked or sculpted to accentuate humansignificance. The transformation of hard,durable natural substances, such as stone orwood, into cultural objects with symbolic valuealso was extremely important. Objects, such asstone spear-points, for instance, were not seento be merely functional but also participated inand reinforced the larger symbolic complex andbelief system of which they were a part.

In this paper, various symbolic and aestheticaspects of stone use in western Arnhem Landhave been outl ined. It has been argued that theadoption of quartzite to make unifacial andbifacial s tone spear-points about 6000 years agocorresponds with the development of poly-chrome paintings at sandstone and quartzitesites, and with an increasing interest in theintrinsic prqperties of substances, objects, crea-tures and Beings that shimmer, are bright orexhibit i ridescence. Spear-points were also con-sidered to embody maleness; for them to beeffective it was important that they not becontaminated with female-linked substancessuch as pigment. However, stone objects wouldbe painted for use in important rituals andceremonies concerned with life, the after-life orrites of passage. One reason is the primary use ofspear-points to bring about death, a male-dominated activity, while ceremonial stoneobjects were used by men to promote, extendand create life, a more typically female-dominated activity.It has also been demonstrated that quartzite asa substance was believed to be especiallypowerful since it resulted not only from theactivities of great Ancestral Beings but also theirfinal remains. Ultimate power may be derivedfrom these Beings, and much ritual and cere-monial activity centres around this. By makingtools from the petrified remains of these Ances-tral Beings, especially powerful and effectivepieces would result.

A narrow functionalist approach to stone toolproduction and change in western ArnhemLand would not have concluded this. First ofall, it would be at a loss to explain the change in


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206 PAIJI. S.C. TAGONchert preference as, if anything, the mottled redand white chert is more readily available andhas virtually the same hardness . Secondly, thefunctionalist approach would have concludedthat in terms of availability of raw material andhardness, quartz and chert would be moreeffective and that quartzite use was linkedsolely to the introduction of stone point tech-nology. But functionalists would be at a loss toexplain the extremely marked and rapidchange. Perhaps a gradual shift to quartzite usedcould be explained by the fact that the length ofblades increases over time, but the suddenchange to more brittle material such as quartzitewould be difficult to explain in purely func-tional terms. Indeed, it is sudden changes intool form, material and manufacture that tell usmost definitely that social, symbolic and aes-thetic influences have to be considered. Mellars

Europe and Africa, and this has shown to be thecase for northern Australia. As researchersbecome frustrated by the limited amount ofinformation obtained from typological andfunctional studies of lithics perhaps futurework elsewhere should shift its focus more tothe social, symbolic and aesthetic realms.

Acknowledgements. The Gagudju Association and theAustralian National Parks arid Wildlife Service are thankedfor permission to undertake research in Kakadu NationalPark. The Cobnurg Peninsula Sanctuary Board and theConservation Commission of t h e Northern Territory arcthanked for permission to conduct investigations i n GurigNational Park. Mick Alderson, Amanda Bigelow, GeorgeChaloupka, Richard Fullagar, Rhys Jones . Dave Lindner, BillNcidje, AndrBe Rosenfeld and Joan Vastokas are thanked forcomments, advice and encouragement. A version of thispaper was originally presented at the 14th Congress of theIndo-Pacific Prehistory Association, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

(1970: 85) hinted at this for the Palaeolithic of on 2 7 A ~ w s t990.

ReferencesALLEN,H. 1989. Late Pleistocene and Holocene

settlement patterns and enviro nment, Kakadu,Northern Territory, Australia, Indo-Pacific Pre-history Association Bulletin 9: 92-117.

ARNDT,W. 1962. The Nargorkun-Narlinji cult,Oceania 32(4):298-320.

1966. Seventy year old records and new informa-tion on the Nargorkun-Narlinji cult, Oceania36(3):231-8.BOULE,M. H. VALLOIS.1957. Fossil me n. New York(NY): Dryden Press .

CANE,S. 1988. Written on stone: a discussion onethnographic and Aboriginal perspection ofstone tools, in Meehan &Jon es ed.):88-93.COBOURC:ENINSULAANCTUARYOARD.1987. GurigNational Park plan of management. Darwin(NT):Conservation Com mission of the NorthernTerritory.GERO, J . 1989. Assessing social information inmaterial objects: how well do lithics measureup?, in R. Torrence (ed.),Time, energy and sto netools: 92-105. Cambridge : Cambridge UniversityPress.

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21-40.MOUNTFORD,. 1956 . Ar t , myth a nd symbol ism.Hecords of the A me rican-A ust ra l ian Exped it ionto Arnhem Land 1. Melbourne: Melbourne Uni-versity Pres s.OAK LEY, .P. 1972 . Man the too l -maker . London:Trustees of the Br i t i sh M useum (Natural His to ry ).OSBORN,.F. 19 16. Men of the O ld Stone Age: theirenv iro nme nt , l ife an d ar t . New York : Char lesScribners Sons.RAMSAY. 8 5 9 . A th en aeu m . 1 6 Ju ly .REID,D. J. VASTOKAS.984 . F rom the four quar ters :n a t iv e an d E u ro pean a r t i n O n ta r io 5000 R C to1867 AD. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario .

SHARP,L. 1952. Steel axes for stone-age Austral ians,H u m a n O r ga n iz a ti on l l ( 2 ) : 17-22.SPENCER,.B. 1928 . Wander ings in w i ld Aust ra l ia 11.London: M acmil lan . T A C o N , P.S .C. 1988 . Thre e cu l tu re s : an invest igat ionin to the Abor ig inal , European and Macassanarchaeological si tes of the Cobourg Pen insu la ,NT, Austral ia. Unpu blis hed report to the Conser-vat ion Commission of the Nor thern Terr i to ry ,Canberra.

1989a. From Hainbow Sna kes to x-ray f ish: then a tu re o j the recent rock painting tradit ion ofWestern A rnhem Land , Aust ra l ia . UnpublishedPh.D thesis, Austral ian National Universi ty ,Canberra.1989b. Gurig National Park: an archaeologicallysignificant region of the Nor thern Terr i to ry ,Au stra l ian A rchaeology 29: 28-38.1990 . The power of place: cross-culturalresponses to natu ra l and cu l tu ra l landscapes ofs tone and ear th , in J . Vastokas (e d.) , Perspec-t ives of Can ad ian landsc ape: na t ive t rad i t ions:11-43. Nor th York (On tario) : Robarts Centre forCanad ian St udie s, York Universi ty .In press. Does art exist? Problems encounteredwh en descr ib ing what has been termed ar t intradit ional Aboriginal and contemporary West-ern socie t ies , in J . Clegg (ed.) ,P roceed ings of theF irst AURA Congress : P ic tu res an d Hu ma n Beha-viour.T A Y L O R , . 1990 . The Rainbow Serpen t as v isualmetaphor in western Arnhem Land , Ocean ia

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