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Horticultural experimentation in northern Australia reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Tim Denham ,
Mark Donohue  and
Sara Booth
Tim Denham
Affiliation:
1School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3800, Australia (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Mark Donohue
Affiliation:
2Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia (Email: [email protected])
Sara Booth
Affiliation:
1School of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Clayton VIC 3800, Australia (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
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Abstract

Did the banana, yam and taro arrive in Australia at the hands of Europeans or come across the Torres Strait 2000 years before? Reviewing the evidence from herbaria histories and anthropology, the authors propose a ‘hierarchy of hypotheses’ and consider a still earlier option, that these food plants were potentially grown in Australia at least 8000 years ago, while it was still joined to New Guinea. This hypothesis, first proposed by Jones and Meehan in 1989, locates early horticultural experiments among peoples too often seen as inveterate hunter-gatherers.

Keywords

AustraliaTorres StraitPleistoceneHolocenepalaeobotanybananataroyam
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 83 , Issue 321 , September 2009 , pp. 634 - 648
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2009

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