Ulm, Sean, Jill Reid and Nathan Woolford (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit, University of Queensland)

Valve-Pairing and Stratigraphic Integrity in Coastal Midden Deposits: A Preliminary Study from the Seven Mile Creek Mound, Central Queensland

Conjoin analyses of stone artefacts have been employed to assess the stratigraphic integrity of rockshelter deposits in Australia. Paradoxically, no comparable studies are available for open coastal midden sites despite frequent reference to this site type as stratigraphically problematic. In this paper we present preliminary results of a conjoin (or valve-pairing) analysis of the bivalve Anadara trapezia (mud ark or Sydney cockle) excavated from the Seven Mile Creek Mound in central Queensland. Attributes for identifying probable conjoins were established through a study of 158 articulated A. trapezia specimens recovered from the Seven Mile Creek Mound. We demonstrate that although articulated A. trapezia exhibit considerable valve dimorphism, umbo length and weight reliably reduced the field of probable conjoins which can then be manually refitted for confirmation. A total of 56 conjoining valve-pairs were identified out of a total of 608 whole A. trapezia valves.

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