Continent of Hunter-Gatherers
New Perspectives in Australian Prehistory

Discusses socio-economic processes of Aboriginal Australians as complex, dynamic and revolutionary.

Harry Lourandos (Author)

9780521359467, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 February 1997

412 pages, 53 b/w illus. 50 maps
23.5 x 19.1 x 2.1 cm, 0.71 kg

"The organization of the vcolume has been carefully thought out, and the regional orientation generally works qiute well. The book is well illustrated, with numerous photographs, maps, and line drawings...Continent of Hunter-Gatherers is a compelling book of serous scholarship and deep thought...the book will undoubted have an impact on Austrailian archyaeology, and be a focus of heated discussion there for some time to come. The volume should also attract much interest from North American archaeologists." Candian Jrnl of Archaeology 24, 2000

This book challenges traditional perceptions of Australian Aboriginal prehistory: that the environment is the major determinant of hunter-gatherers; that Aborigines were egalitarian and culturally homogeneous and therefore experienced few economic and demographic changes. Harry Lourandos argues that the social and economic processes of hunter-gatherers were complex and that the prehistoric period was dynamic and revolutionary. Lourandos presents prehistoric data, reviews archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence, and analyses environmental, demographic and socially-oriented perspectives - drawing from them an original hypothesis. He addresses initial colonisation, the role of Tasmanian Aborigines, the role of fire, faunal extinctions, the intensification debate, horticultural origins, plant exploitation, and the significance of Australian prehistory in the study of other prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies.

Introduction: changing perspectives
1. Hunter-gatherer variation in time and space
2. Australian Aboriginal hunter-gatherers
3. Out of Asia: earliest evidence and people
4. The tropical north
5. Arid and semiarid Australia
6. Temperate southern Australia
7. Tasmania
8. Continental changes
9. Interpretations
10. Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Anthropology [JHM], Indigenous peoples [JFSL9], Cultural studies [JFC], Biography: historical, political & military [BGH]