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NHANDA VILLAGES OF THE VICTORIADISTRICT, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, byRupert Gerritsen. Canberra: Intellectual PropertyPublications, Australian National University(200 1 ), iv+3 1 pages, 4 figures,5plates.ISBN0- 958- 10450-6 (paperback) Price AS20. l -- Peter Veth If you have ever subscribed to the theory of incipientagriculture in Australia or wanted to be1ick.e that(re)planting of yams or domiculture equated with theintensive management of cultigens then this slimresearch paper is just what you have been waiting for.Gerritsen has (re)visited the issue of 19th centuryhistorical accounts of yam 'gardens' and '\.illages'along the rich alluvial flats and terraces of the centralwest coast. A number of major drainage courses, suchas the Greenough. Chapman and Irwin River valleyswere obser~redby early explorers such as Grey andsubsequent settlers to support relatively high densities ofpeople, to host shelters of substantial size androbustness and to have evidence of extensive and welltended yam grounds. The presence of significant yam patches is of coursenot restricted to the semi-arid central west coast. Theyare also described from the southwest of the continent,portions of the southern and western Kimberley and alsofrom parts of CapeYork and offshore islands. Equallylarge and robust shelters to those noted by Gerritsenhave been recorded from many parts of northernAustralia while aggregations of Absrcinal peoplerunning into the 100's are recorded from virtually everypart of the country at one stage or another.Overall this essay is scholarly and thoughtful in theway it collates and documents the ethnohistoric sources,tries to critique likely Eurocentric biases in recordingunfamiliar structures and land-use practices and the wayit tries to place the apparent anomaly of the 'agro-complex' into some kind of comparative context. Whereit falls down, howe\,er. is in its approach to examiningphysical evidence in the field at the assumed location ofthe villages. Clearly pre-contact lithic scatters suddenlybecome proof for previous agricultural settlements (withonly some grinding material being noted), what appearsto be a ri\.er terrace is assumed to ha1.e been the result ofland tillage or similar acti\.ity and ( illustrations) ofthick-framed shelters becomes houses m.ithin a \,illage.Gerritsen uses historical accounts of the numbers ofpeople u.itnessed at places like the '*GreenoughL'illage". \vherc 150 indi\ iduals are noted. to calculatethe size of the srcinal settlement (after Hassan) andtheir permanent?.. The degree of sedentisrn is assessed(after Kelll.) and new labels for this kind of communityare suggested including seasonal. multi-seasonal.seasonally mobile. sequential and partial1 sedentar asdepth and thus it is hard to judge their utility.Sections of the paper tend towards pure speculation.For example at page 18 the author notes "As statedpre\.iously, the site identified as corresponding to thefirst village encountered by Grey at the Hutt River wassituated on a terraced area that did not appear to be anatural formation. If this is the case. and it is actuallythe product of an extended occupational history at thissite, then it could be deemed to be a thick culturaldeposit". Also on page 18 he states further "Assumingthat the settlement here commenced as a result of adynamic initiated by the marooning of two Dutchmutineers in this area in 1629 .." In neither example isany archaeological analysis brought to bear on the issue - despite the author making field inspections of thesites. Why did he not make at least a preliminaryexamination of the terrace to see if it contained anycultural materials on the surface or in section? Equally,while it is nrll documented that two of the Bataviamutineers were indeed left on this arid coastline there isno material evidence that they in fact survived or hadany lasting impact on local populations. It should benoted that there is some material evidence for sur\,ivaland possible contact for other maritime events such asthe later wrecking of the Zuytdorp further north alongthe Western Australian coastline.Further evidence that is canvassed as support for thesedentary status of these groups are superior wells, aburial ground and the presence of large pathways.Unfortunately, the fresh water wells he notes are nolarger than those found in the interior Western Desert,the burial ground quite small compared to thoserecorded from South Australia and Victoria and thepresence of pathways in fact common in south-westAustralia (see numerous papers by Bill Ferguson).For these and a range of other reasons I found thatonly one of the eight conclusions presented on page 21was supported by the data or arguments presented in thepreceding text. I will summarise my objections to eachof his conclusions: 1 ) That the Nhanda were engaged in agriculture. Thereis no hard data to support this conclusion. Theirintensic,e and likely seasonal use of yams is well withinthe range recorded for other parts of AbsrcinalAustralia.2) That there were fi\.e substantial settlements.This isonly supported by generally brief accounts fromexplorers and settlers. 3) That the population of the settlements ranged froni 99 to 290. These figures ha\.e been calculated fromestimates pro\.ided by historical \\.itnesses. m,hich areoften noted by the author to be based on superficialimpressions. 1) hat tu.0 of the fi\e settlenicnt locations ha\.e beenconfirmed. The presence of a lithic scatter andpurported scttlemsnt mound terrace is not proof ofsettlement.altsrnati\es to \lurdoch'z categoricb. Lnfortunatcl? the 5, That the d\iell,ng3 large and robubt The rationale for these ne\ilabel\ 15 not dc'eloped in an!,pparc11t accurac- of era] earl! dra\\ lng 5 nlal\cb -~MS~~~J~ICJ)I )-c i~i~tv)iog\ \un~bcr 55. 2002 5 7 conclusion reasonable. 6) That the settlements were permanent and the residentsdisplayed a high degree of sedentism. Given no long-term observations were made in the earlier part of the19th century this is largely speculation.7) That a range of settlement types were in evidenceincluding "homesteads', "dispersed settlements","hamlets'' and "villages". These are more likely to bethe etic categories of the early recorders; they are notsupported through independent archaeological data. 8) That there were other settlement types in the region.Again, this is only raised by early accounts and notsupported through any archaeological data.In conclusion this extended paper does service to thedis~arate ources and records that note the presence of these flourishing hunter-gatherer communities, who itwould appear for at least part of their resource schedulemade heavy reliance on yams. In making the next largejump to instil them with the status of agriculturalists isto fly in the face of comparative data for otherAustralian Absrcinal groups and to ignore the currentlack of archaeological data supporting such aproposition. It is with this balance of merit andshortcoming that I recommend the paper to readers. AFTER CAPTAIN COOK: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE RECENT INDIGENOUS PAST IN AUSTRALIA edited by Rodney Harrison and Christine WilliamsonUniversity of Sydney Archaeological Methods Series 8 ISBN 1864875070 RRP A$45 in AustraliaA$55 overseas (paperback) 5 8 Australian Archaeology, Number 55, 2002
