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Slice of the past
Latex peels are used to record the stratigraphic and cultural layers in deposits at archaeological sites. This latex peel was made after an archaeological excavation in a rockshelter at Balmoral Beach. It records the various layers and materials which built up from around 4000 to 2500 years ago. The layers that accumulated after 2500 years ago were removed during construction of parking bays and landscaping in the 1960s. Dr Val Attenbrow, Senior Research Scientist at the Australian Museum undertook these excavations as part of the Port Jackson Archaeological Project which was designed to investigate the subsistence economy and raw materials used by people living around Port Jackson in the distant past. What do the layers represent? Layer 1: Recent, disturbed sandy soil re-deposited in the 1960s. It contains a few stone artefacts and shell mixed with European items such as glass and tile. Layer 2A-B: Main shelly layer. The white pieces are shell that has fragmented and degraded due to natural processes, the small brown pieces are bone fragments, and the black specks are charcoal. The pale brown lenses are ashy hearths. Stone artefacts occurred in the deposit, but are not visible in the peel. Layer 2C: Black sandy deposits with stone artefacts, bone and charcoal. The shell has dissolved away in this area as it is under the dripline of the shelter's overhang. Layer 3: A series of bone-rich and charcoal-rich layers and lenses (small, shallow concentrations of material). There are also stone artefacts present. In the bottom half of this layer, the only bone that has survived is burnt and appears as tiny white specks. Layer 4: Mottled sands with charcoal. Stone artefacts are the only cultural materials present. The radiocarbon dates noted on the peel came from shell samples, except for the dates for the lower deposits that were taken from charcoal samples. Shellfish seen in the peel are mainly limpet, black periwinkle and rock oyster which inhabit intertidal rock platforms; and Sydney cockles which like sandy, muddy conditions. The fish bones are mainly from snapper and bream but leatherjacket, flathead, wrasse, tarwhine and groper were also identified. The land animal bones come from swamp wallabies, wallaroos, bandicoots, possums, gliders, marsupial mice and dingoes. The stone artefacts are mainly debris which is created when making spear barbs or small points for cutting, small woodworking tools and implements for butchering animals and processing plants.
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