Edge-ground axes in Pleistocene Greater Australia: new evidence from S.E. Cape York Peninsula

Abstract

Recent archaeological research on S.W. Cape York Peninsula indicates that edge-ground axes were in use in this region of north Australia before 32 k.y.a. Edge-grinding is one of the hallmarks of the Neolithic in Europe but the evidence now suggests that it may have been part of the technological repertoire of the earliest Aboriginal colonists in some areas of Australia-New Guinea. This paper discusses some of the implications of edge-ground artefact distribution and chronology in the region.