Rock shelters as indicators of mobility patterns in the inland Pilbara

Abstract

A land-use model widely used by consulting archaeologists in the Pilbara depicts rock shelters as ephemeral and atypical sites. We evaluate assemblages from excavated rock shelters in the Chichester Range against predicted characteristics of sites used on a short-term basis by small highly mobile groups. The results show that rock shelters do not clearly conform to the model. Comparison of selected shelter assemblages with neighbouring surface sites suggests that rock shelters are likely to be among the most complex and diverse sites in the study area.