Human–environment interactions at regional scales: the complex topography hypothesis applied to surface archaeological records in Australia and North America

Abstract

We match stone artefact distributions and assemblage compositions at the local geographical scale to measures of both complex topography and environmental history, as suggested by the work of Bailey and King. By comparing two study regions that have different topographic complexity measures, one in western New South Wales, Australia, and the other in Oglala National Grassland, North American Great Plains, we show that people created distinct long-term landscape use histories in both regions. While stone artefact manufacture and use, and indeed the transport of stone artefacts over great distances, feature in both areas, the accumulation of stone artefacts in different places leads to a quite different site use history in each of the case study regions.