Coastal foragers beyond the mainland: Seafaring and early island settlement on Velanai, Jaffna, Sri Lanka, ca. 3460 cal BP The semi-arid Jaffna Peninsula in northern Sri Lanka has often been considered unsuitable for prehistoric habitation due to its dry climate and scarce stone resources. New excavations at a shell mi...

GIA PhD candidate Thilanka Siriwardana (Rajarata University of Sri Lanka) has another of his chapters published:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 👏

For #coastalarchaeology #shellmiddens #archaeomalacology #prehistory lovers and to understand human-environment interactions in Southeast Asia. 😍

This is what I was doing in the lab this week — working through the MNI counts for chitons as part of my reanalysis of the marine invertebrate assemblage from Haynes Cave. Applying a method that is more accurate.
#archaeomalacology #zooarchaeology #chiton #australianarchaeology #MontebelloIslands

Using archaeological, ethnographic & experimental datasets, we establish a full chaîne opératoire for Melo shell knives—proving manufacture began 46,000 years ago in northern Australia. doi.org/10.1016/j.ja... #zooarchaeology #archaeomalacology #australianarchaeology #experimentalarchaeology

The reduction sequence of a juvenile Melo into a knife followed a set process. The same as technique observed by Tindale in the 1960s in the gulf of Carpentaria. Which is 2,452 km away from Boodie Cave! #archaeomalacology #experimentalarchaeology #australianarchaeology #shelltools

Part of my PhD research looked at shell knives from Boodie Cave, Barrow Island (Hook et al. 2024). We found a 46,000-year tradition of Melo shell knife production—some of the earliest known shell tools made by Homo sapiens.
#archaeomalacology #australianarchaeology #experimentalarchaeology

New postdoc in Australian archaeology from Sydney University

#auatralianarchaeology #coastalarchaeology #archaeomalacology

The use wear experiments showed that the Boodie Cave beads were strung with their narrower apical ends and wide ends alternating against each other, rather than nested in concatenated style as seen in historical examples.

#experimentalarchaeology #archaeomalacology #ancientbeads

My latest paper details how tusk shell beads were strung and tested on a wear machine simulating 10 hours of vigorous wear: 300 RPM, 1.5 agitations/sec, totaling 54,000 agitations—like wearing a necklace during intense activity.

#experimentalarchaeology #archaeomalacology #australianarchaeology

I keep wanting different lists of everyone’s archaeology posts. So I’ve created a Coastal archaeology feed. Come and add it to your feeds.

bsky.app/profile/did:...

#coastalarchaeology #islandarchaeology #maritimearchaeology #submergedlandscapes #marinezooarchaeology #archaeomalacology

Bead percussion characteristics: (a) experimental bead (EXP-B021) concave break; and, (b) Boodie Cave bead (J08-100_B011) concave break (image by Fiona Hook).

Based on experimental archaeology, we’ve shown that 11,000-year-old scaphopod shell bead production from Boodie Cave (NW Australia) matches how Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley make them today! This the first study of its kind in Australian archaeology. #archaeomalacology #iceage

It’s now officially officially Dr Hook! Graduated my PhD last night at UWA in Australian archaeology. Thesis is titled Early archaeology of the mangrove highway: 50,000 years of Aboriginal marine adaptations from Barrow Island, northwest Australia. #archaeomalacology #experimentalarchaeology

Tomorrow I’ll be presenting my PhD results at the Australian Archaeology Conference in Cairns, showing the consistent harvesting of subtidal sea grass shellfish from 51-36 to 18-6.5 ka at Boodie Cave

#australianarchaeology
#archaeomalacology
#iceage #pleistocene #ancientmaritimity
#zooarchaeology

At AAA next week I’ll present the result that the Boodie Cave shellfish record is currently the oldest evidence in Australia of Aboriginal people harvesting shellfish 50,000 years ago.

#australianarchaeology
#archaeomalacology
#pleistocene #ancientmaritimity
#archaeomalacology #zooarchaeology

On Wednesday morning I’ll be presenting results of my quantitative analysis of the 50,000 year old marine invertebrate record from Boodie Cave, NW Australia at the Australian Archaeology Conference in Cairns.

#australianarchaeology
#archaeomalacology
#shellfish #ancientmaritimity
#zooarchaeology

I wish we could have used our teeth but we were too scared of ending up with large dentist bills! #australainarchaeology #experimentalarchseology #shelltools #zooarchaeology #archaeomalacology

A comparative study of early shell knife production using archaeological, experimental and ethnographic datasets: 46,000 years of Melo (Gastropoda: Volutidae) shell knife manufacture in northern Austr... We investigate archaeological evidence for the early production of Melo (or commonly named ‘baler’) shell knives recovered from Late Pleistocene and E…

Ancient shell tool traditions in Australia lasting for over 46,000 years. #australianarchaeology #shelltools #archaeomalacology #experimentalarchaeology

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#zooarchaeology #archaeomalacology