What’s changing - Population Size or Land Use?: The archaeology of Upper Mangrove, Sydney Basin

The Upper Mangrove Creek catchment is an ideal locality in which to undertake field investigation into Aboriginal use of the coastal hinterland. The area, 101 square kilometres in size, is rich in sites that have provided significant archaeological evidence of Aboriginal use of the coastal hinterland. The catchment became the focus of major archaeological salvage work in the late 1970s, prior to the construction of the Mangrove Creek Dam. Further research, undertaken by the author, on the total catchment expand upon the results of earlier work. This monograph describes the later research project and summarises the salvage programme results. This evidence is used to explore current research issues relating to the interpretation of the mid- to late-Holocene archaeological record in Australia, particularly quantitative changes relating to population numbers and aspects of human behaviour, such as risk management, subsistence, mobility and land use patterns.