Aboriginal Population and Social Interaction During Prehistory Period in Australia - Essay Example

ARCHAEOLOGY Aboriginal Population and social interaction during prehistory period in Australia Name Institution Course Tutor Date Introduction The prehistory Australian period is considered to be a period between when the first human inhabited the Australian land and the eventual coming of colonizers in 1788 (Smith et al 2002). The prehistory period is estimated to have lasted between 40,000 and 60,000 years. This period is largely referred to as prehistory given the scarce materials available concerning the period; hence much evidence about the socio-economic and political life of people are likely to be obtained through archaeological methods of investigations. Aboriginal people are believed to be the first people to inhabit the Australian land, although the exact period when they did so remains contentious (Smith et al 2002). A number of evidence exists that show that in the last few thousand years of prehistory in Australia, there was unprecedented explosion in Aboriginal population, accompanied by new patterns of social interaction. Based on this argument, the primary aim of the essay is to use available research resources to describe and discuss the unprecedented explosion in Aboriginal population during the prehistoric period and the kind and nature of social interaction patterns created during this period of time. Specifically, the resource materials to be used are largely for South-eastern Australia (Victoria) region. Aboriginals in Australia Aboriginals are perceived to be the first inhabitants in the Australian land, although the accepted time-frame when they arrived in the country remains debatable. But, even with this situation available information indicate that the timeframe for the arrival of first Aboriginals in Australia is believed to be between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago (Lourandos 1997). Other historical accounts have even gone far to indicate that this period could even be as old as 120, 000 years ago, although these category of evidence has been challenged (Lourandos 1997). The time estimate for the arrival of first Aboriginals has been arrived at by analysis of archaeological materials that have been excavated in many parts of Australia. For instance, in Arnhem Land, the Malakunanja rock shelter is estimated to have been around for the last 55,000 years (Lourandos 1997). Further evidence around upper Swan River and Western Australia indicate that habitation in these areas dates back to about 40,000. Besides, Archaeological evidence in Tasmania region indicate that human activities at the region can be traced to about 30,000 years back (Lourandos 1997). In South Eastern Australia, there has been palynological evidence that show an increase in fire activity that date back to about 120,000 years, and this has led to interpretation that human activities took place here, hence indicating human inhabitation, although the dating of the evidence has strongly been challenged (Lourandos 1997). Aboriginal population By the time the first European arrived in Australia, in 1788, it is estimated that there were about 315,000 and 750,000 people who lived in Australia (Axelsson & Skold 2011). Other estimates indicate up to 1.25 million people inhabited Australia prior to colonization. Besides, a cumulative population of 1.6 billion people has been suggested to have been living in Australia prior to 1788 when colonizers arrived (Axelsson & Skold 2011). The regions that had great number of indigenous population are the temperate coastal regions. Also, other regions with greatest population density were those found in the southern and eastern regions of the current and the Murray River valley (Axelsson & Skold 2011). But, even as these estimates seem to take centre stage in many discussion of evaluating demographics of Aboriginals, it has been observed that the debate over the size of the Aboriginal population of Australia prior to invasion by the European people remains complicated by what has been termed as disagreeable ‘history wars’ (Axelsson & Skold 2011). Nevertheless, despite this situation, scholars have come to understand the complexity of Aboriginal society and its management of plant and animal food resources; they have also gained a new appreciation of the land’s carrying capacity (Axelsson & Skold 2011). Estimates provided by Len Smith show that prehistoric Australia must have a capacity to support around 1.6 billion human before the British colonizers arrived (Smith et al 2002). At the same time Arthur Philip, the first British Governor, provides estimates of Aboriginal population to have been about 1 million prior to 1788 (Axelsson & Skold 2011). Furthermore, in 1930, A.R Radcliffe-Brown reviewed numerous historical literatures and estimated the Aboriginal population to have been about 250,000 and even in excess of 300,000 people by the time the British arrived in the country (Hugo 2012). In addition, archaeological research evidence that concern Aboriginal society, ecological practice and food gathering activities have estimated the prehistoric Aboriginal population to be about 1 million in 1788, although even this figure to the author is small given the land mass and availability of resources at that time (Hugo 2012). At the same time, the work of Radcliffe-Brown on the Victorian population estimated that there were about 15,000 Aboriginals who occupied the region south of the Murray River before the British took control of the region (Axelsson & Skold 2011). Other scholarly works by researchers have indicated that there might have been substantial increase in the proposed or estimated population (Axelsson & Skold 2011). This conviction is informed by the fact that the southeast part of Australia is seen to have had dense population of Aboriginals, since it had good climate, hence had sufficient food supply to support a semi-sedentary society and economy along the Murray River and also in other parts of the western basalt plain. But, even as population in these areas increased due to these factors, it was affected and reduced to some extent by two successive smallpox epidemics around 1788 (Axelsson & Skold 2011). Aboriginal population unprecedented explosion Gough (2012) observes that it is difficult to find accurate archaeological evidence is scarce due to their loss. But, despite this circumstance, studies have shown that Australian Aboriginal populations was characterised by unprecedented growth in the 5,000-year period before European inhabited the Australian land. The author expresses that the debate in Australian archaeological circles concerning the nature of prehistoric Aboriginal population trends can be in one way or the other be resolved by the findings in the study carried out. Besides, shedding light on this debate, the author’s work also provide insight into how land management techniques changed the situation in the environmental history for Aboriginals that can be associated to the unprecedented population growth during this period. The observation made is that before the coming of Europeans to Australia, Aboriginals societies and cultures were to large extent characterised by dynamic and changing patterns in their lives (Gough 2012). Gough (2012) admits that the reasons that can be related to Aboriginal’s accelerated population growth are hard to fully understand. Despite this circumstance, the author argues that there has been one assumption that environment might have played an important role in population growth of Aboriginals during this period (Gough 2012). The idea is that during this period, the environment improved to a great extent, making land suitable for habitation and growth. This line of argument is however disputed by other researchers who argue that the prehistoric period was characterised by harsh climatic conditions: droughts, less rainfall and less productivity, hence the prevalent human concern about their lives; what to eat cannot be the reason for population growth (Attenbrow 2007). Therefore, the researchers with divergent view about Aboriginal population growth note that the situation is highly to have been contributed by intrinsic factors connected to what the people were doing at that time in terms of reorganizing their societies, as well as the systems they used for land management and extracting resources from the land (Gough 2012). The point that can be advanced in this essay as the reason for population growth of Aboriginals during the prehistoric period is that communities that settled in temperate coastal regions, southern and eastern regions and the Murray River valley experience high concentration due to favourable climate and living conditions of these areas. Therefore, Aboriginal communities were able to develop mechanisms of manipulating the environment using crude technologies to advance agriculture, hunting and gathering and fishing (Attenbrow 2010). These occupations saw increased supply of food, leading to more permanent settlement of people, thereby, motivated population increase. Families had enough to eat and also many Aboriginals during this period had balanced diets, a situation that improved their health greatly. Apart from the population growth, the prehistoric period also witnessed Aboriginals forming new patterns of social interaction, especially as they increased with their activities of migrations. Aboriginals during the prehistoric period are said to have developed sophisticated social structures and social interaction processes that facilitated trade and intermarriage (Schrire 2009). Aboriginals established ties of marriage, customs, ceremonies, language and trade that ensured widespread access to scarce resources, maximizing the material and spiritual diversity of these groups. Settlement in areas with good climate and fertile land such as around Central Murray River resulted into a mixture of communities that practiced agriculture, fishing, hunting and trade. Trade was practiced among the groups in the region participating in production of different commodities, and also trade with other groups located far away as the Melbourne region was encouraged (Schrire 2009). Social interaction took place at group level, where it could involve one group of community interacting with another group of community. At the same time, formation of social interaction networks was further enhanced among the communities that settled in the region (Central Murray River) but opted to domesticate animals. As a result, changing environment was associated with changing patterns of weather that saw those with animals from one area to another in search of grazing land as well as sources of water. Therefore, these groups of people were forced to establish good social relationships with other groups of people in neighbouring regions who could accommodate them and offer them grazing lands during the droughts period (Schrire 2009). Apart from this, manipulation of the local environment became the sure way Aboriginal communities could survive. Therefore, it became apparent to them that development of technological tools was the appropriate way they could exploit their environment productively. It therefore came clear that not all groups of people were specialists in tool-making. But, this was not a limitation; groups of people established cordial social relationships that saw increase in the exchange of tool between communities in a form of trade. Subsequently, intermarriages that took place during the period were only possible through establishment of quality social interaction relationships (Schrire 2009). Members from one group were only to marry from a group, the two groups enjoyed cordial relationships. Creating such relationships could happen through trade exchange relationships that the two communities enjoyed. Moreover, the acceleration of population during this period in such areas as Central Murray River meant that some people had to move and migrate to other areas as a way of easing the pressure. Migration was one way people moved from one region to another. Many migration patterns were successful due to existence of quality social interaction and relationships between the groups coming into contact. Such scenario saw resistance or fight from other groups that in one way or the other might have felt threatened by the presence of the moving groups. Therefore, it is clear that the prehistoric period was characterised by acceleration in population of Aboriginals, as well as increase in level of social interaction between diverse groups of Aboriginals. Conclusion The argument in the essay was based on the primary preposition of the essay that in the last few thousand years of prehistory in Australia, there has been witness of unprecedented explosion in Aboriginal population, accompanied by new patterns of social interaction. The position advanced in the paper is that population growth in prehistoric period is explained by both environmental and intrinsic factors that motivated Aboriginals to successful exploit their environment for food and settlement. Also, a position is adopted that crude technology that Aboriginals developed during the period made it easy to exploit the environment more successfully, leading to permanent settlement and decline in death numbers, hence increasing the population. Besides, this period saw increase in formation of new patterns of interaction through trade and marriage. These new patterns were important in helping Aboriginals enhance their socio-economic lives. Therefore, it can be concluded that before the British came in 1788, Aboriginals were well experiencing accelerating population growth due to their unique patterns of organising their socio-economic lives. Reference List Attenbrow, V 2007, Terra Australis 21 - what’s changing: population size or land-use patterns? The archaeology of Upper Mangrove Creek, Sydney Basin, Canberra, Sydney: ANU E Press. Attenbrow, V 2010, Sydney's Aboriginal past: investigating the archaeological and historical records, Australia: UNSW Press. Axelsson, P & Skold, P 2011, Indigenous peoples and demography: the complex relation between identity and statistics, Oxford, London: Berghahn Books. Gough, M 2012, Prehistoric Australian Aboriginal populations were growing, Available from: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/prehistoric-aboriginal-populations-australia-were-growing/ [Accessed 21 February 2013]. Hugo, G 2012, Population distribution, migration and climate change in Australia: An exploration, Accarnsi Discussion Paper-Node 2, Available from: http://www.nccarf.edu.au/wwwold/settlements-infrastructure/sites/www.nccarf.edu.au.settlements-infrastructure/files/file/ACCARNSI%20Node%202%20Discussion%20Paper%20-%20Population%20Distribution%20Migration%20and%20Climate%20Change%20in%20Australia%20%20Final.pdf [Accessed 21 February 2013]. Lourandos, H 1997, Continent of hunter-gatherers: new perspectives in Australian prehistory, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Smith, L., McCalman, J., Anderson, I., Smith, S., Evans, J., McCarthy, G nd Beer, J 2002, Fractional Identities: The political Arithmetic of Aboriginal Victorians, In, Axelsson, P & Skold, P 2011, Indigenous peoples and demography: the complex relation between identity and statistics, Oxford, London: Berghahn Books. Schrire, C 2009, Past and present hunter gatherer studies, Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Read More

Besides, Archaeological evidence in Tasmania region indicate that human activities at the region can be traced to about 30,000 years back (Lourandos 1997). In South Eastern Australia, there has been palynological evidence that show an increase in fire activity that date back to about 120,000 years, and this has led to interpretation that human activities took place here, hence indicating human inhabitation, although the dating of the evidence has strongly been challenged (Lourandos 1997). Aboriginal population By the time the first European arrived in Australia, in 1788, it is estimated that there were about 315,000 and 750,000 people who lived in Australia (Axelsson & Skold 2011).

Other estimates indicate up to 1.25 million people inhabited Australia prior to colonization. Besides, a cumulative population of 1.6 billion people has been suggested to have been living in Australia prior to 1788 when colonizers arrived (Axelsson & Skold 2011). The regions that had great number of indigenous population are the temperate coastal regions. Also, other regions with greatest population density were those found in the southern and eastern regions of the current and the Murray River valley (Axelsson & Skold 2011).

But, even as these estimates seem to take centre stage in many discussion of evaluating demographics of Aboriginals, it has been observed that the debate over the size of the Aboriginal population of Australia prior to invasion by the European people remains complicated by what has been termed as disagreeable ‘history wars’ (Axelsson & Skold 2011). Nevertheless, despite this situation, scholars have come to understand the complexity of Aboriginal society and its management of plant and animal food resources; they have also gained a new appreciation of the land’s carrying capacity (Axelsson & Skold 2011).

Estimates provided by Len Smith show that prehistoric Australia must have a capacity to support around 1.6 billion human before the British colonizers arrived (Smith et al 2002). At the same time Arthur Philip, the first British Governor, provides estimates of Aboriginal population to have been about 1 million prior to 1788 (Axelsson & Skold 2011). Furthermore, in 1930, A.R Radcliffe-Brown reviewed numerous historical literatures and estimated the Aboriginal population to have been about 250,000 and even in excess of 300,000 people by the time the British arrived in the country (Hugo 2012).

In addition, archaeological research evidence that concern Aboriginal society, ecological practice and food gathering activities have estimated the prehistoric Aboriginal population to be about 1 million in 1788, although even this figure to the author is small given the land mass and availability of resources at that time (Hugo 2012). At the same time, the work of Radcliffe-Brown on the Victorian population estimated that there were about 15,000 Aboriginals who occupied the region south of the Murray River before the British took control of the region (Axelsson & Skold 2011).

Other scholarly works by researchers have indicated that there might have been substantial increase in the proposed or estimated population (Axelsson & Skold 2011). This conviction is informed by the fact that the southeast part of Australia is seen to have had dense population of Aboriginals, since it had good climate, hence had sufficient food supply to support a semi-sedentary society and economy along the Murray River and also in other parts of the western basalt plain. But, even as population in these areas increased due to these factors, it was affected and reduced to some extent by two successive smallpox epidemics around 1788 (Axelsson & Skold 2011).

Aboriginal population unprecedented explosion Gough (2012) observes that it is difficult to find accurate archaeological evidence is scarce due to their loss. But, despite this circumstance, studies have shown that Australian Aboriginal populations was characterised by unprecedented growth in the 5,000-year period before European inhabited the Australian land.

Read More