Late Holocene drying of Port Phillip Bay: archaeological and cultural perspectives

Abstract

Evidence from bay floor channelling, seismic surveys and core dating has been used to suggest that Port Phillip Bay dried out for a period between about 2800 and 1000 cal. yr BP as sandbars blocked it off from the sea. This model is now supported by the examination of radiocarbon ages from archaeological excavations of Aboriginal shell middens on the shoreline of the Mornington Peninsula on Bunurong Country. This shows a near-continuous use of marine resources by Bunurong people over the last 6000 years for areas south of Rosebud, while those to the north are only of more recent date, following the refilling of the bay in the last millennium. This study provides an example of the integration of traditional, archaeological and geoscience evidence and the way in which local environmental changes impact on society.