Roberts, Amy, Mannum Aboriginal Community Association Inc., and Alex van Wessem

The Ngaut Ngaut (Devon Downs) Interpretive Project - Presenting Archaeological History to the Public

Ngaut Ngaut, known in the archaeological literature as Devon Downs, is one of the discipline’s iconic sites. Located on the Murray River in South Australia this rockshelter was the first Australian site to be scientifically excavated. The excavations, conducted by Norman Tindale and Herbert Hale, began in 1929. The results of this research provided the first clear evidence for the presence of Indigenous Australians in one place and over a long period of time.

Prior to Hale and Tindale’s excavations little systematic research had been conducted in the field of Indigenous Australian archaeology. In fact the thinking of the day was that Indigenous Australians were recent arrivals to Australia and consequently it was generally believed that the material culture of Indigenous Australians had not changed over time. Hence, the research at Ngaut Ngaut provided a turning point in the way the Indigenous Australian archaeological record was viewed. Over 80 years have elapsed since this significant event in both Australian and archaeological history. These years have seen many changes in the archaeological discipline, cultural heritage management as well as changes to the Ngaut Ngaut site.

In this research we present some of the results of the Ngaut Ngaut Interpretive Project. The project, initiated in early 2010 by Amy Roberts and the Mannum Aboriginal Community Association Inc., aims to present to the public the many tangible and intangible values of this significant place through a variety of mediums. Some of the many values attached to the site (in addition to its archaeological history and excavations) that have required interpretation include: rock art, Dreaming, oral history, discussions about Aboriginal group boundaries and ‘totemic’ issues. In this poster we focus on the need to consider the ways in which iconic archaeological sites are managed and interpreted and the issues involved in presenting archaeological history to the public.

file size:

pdf file size:3.63 MB