User:Sbisho/Devil's Lair

Technology
Both stone and bone tools were found in Devil’s Lair, present in trenches 2, 5, and 6. These tools are both complex and versatile, including flakes, bone points, adze-like scrapers, and limestone, quartz and chert scalar cores. Stone tools utilized a flake technology produced by discoidal cores, however, no discoidal cores were recovered from the site. Stone flakes were reused and had utility (sawing and cutting). Scaler cores as well were reutilized; one notched quartz core showing signs of being used as a scraper. Bone points, the second-most common artifact found, were sharpened and utilized similarly to modern Aboriginal bone points.

Charcoal
Carbon 14 dating for charcoal used for dating Devil’s Lair, though originally thought impossible due to the high rate of the local vegetation species endemism (65-85%). Charcoal found at the site was compiled and compared with other charcoal samples across the world, using ESEM (Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope), which identified the charcoal as reliable to date. Additionally, local wooded plants intermixed within the charcoal were able to be identified and helped to categorize the dates of inhabitation in reference to climate. Once dated, the charcoal showed signs of sporadic human inhabitation, with three settlement periods: 24,000 - 17,000 BP (during a drier climate with less vegetation), 12,000 BP (during a period of moist climate and dense vegetation), and 500 - 300 BP (a climate closest to present-day). Earliest occupancy dates, from more detailed carbon 14 dating, mark the earliest dates of occupation of Devil’s Lair during 48,000 BP.

Lithic Analysis
111 stone tools were found within Devil’s Lair. They include adze-like scrapers and flakes, all made of either chert or quartz. Earlier studies hypothesized the use of resin on hafted tools, though sedimentary analysis and lithic analysis contradict this theory; there is inconclusive evidence for both early use of hafted tools and possible use of resin. Radiocarbon dates and stratigraphic analysis (of stratigraphic layers 19-30 upper) of said tools indicate occupation of Devil’s Lair starting at 31,000 years BP, and with a possible earlier dating of 33,000 years BP.

Human Material
Bones of the past inhabitants were found within Devil’s Cave, including a hip-bone and a tooth A male human pelvis was found within Trench 9. Once radiocarbon dated, the pelvis was dated to be 12,000 years old. Found near a hearth, laying on its side, the male pelvis’s position could point for further significance. Three human teeth found within the site: a permanent, maxillary central incisor, dated to 8,000 to 12,000 years BP; a upper, left, central deciduous incisor, dated to 17,000 years BP; and child’s small incisor, dated to 19,000 ± 500 BP.

Addition to the Archaeological Significance
The site boasts a rich history, occupation of the site dating all the way back to more than 40,000 years ago. With dates of occupation as early as 48,000 years ago, Devil’s Lair widens the scope of the peopling of Australia. Adze-like scrapers, jewelry, hearths, and faunal remains offer a glimpse of life in Australia during the Late Pleistocene, as well as the complexity of Pleistocene tool technologies. The site, albeit having sparse inhabitants, could be representative of adaptations towards terrestrial economies from coastal economies.