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Nutley, D. 1995. “More than a Shipwreck: The Convict Ship Hive, Aboriginal and European Contact Site.” Paper presented at joint conference of the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology and the Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, Hobart.

Pearson, M. 1983. “The Technology of Whaling in Australian Waters in the 19th Century.” Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 1: 40–55.

———. 1984. “The Excavation of the Mount Wood Woolscour, Tibooburra, N.S.W.” Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 2: 38–50.

———. 1992. “From Ship to the Bush: Ship Tanks in Australia.” Australasian Historical Archaeology 10: 24–29.

Staniforth, M. 1987. “The Casks from the Wreck of the William Salthouse.” Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 5: 21–28.

———. 1995. Dependent Colonies: The Importation of Material Culture into the Australian Colonies (1788–1850). Underwater Archaeology Proceedings, SHA Conference 1995. Society for Historical Archaeology.

Staniforth, M., and M. Nash. 1998. Chinese Export Porcelain from the Wreck of the Sydney Cove (1797). Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology.

Strachan, S. 1986. The History and Archaeology of the Sydney Cove Shipwreck (1797): A Resource for Future Site Work. Occasional Papers in Prehistory no. 5. Canberra: Australian National University.

Varman, R. 1979. The Marseilles or French Pattern Tile in Australia. Sydney: Australian Society for Historical Archaeology.

———. 1980. “The Nail as a Criterion for the Dating of Building and Building Sites (Late 18th Century to 1900).” ASHA Bulletin 10, no. 1.

Wesson, J. 1983. “A First Bibliography of Historical Archaeology in Australia.” Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 1: 22–34.

———. 1984. “A First Bibliography of Historical Archaeology in Australia Continued.” Australian Journal of Historical Archaeology 2: 13–16.

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Australia, Prehistoric

The practice of archaeology in Australia has always been conditioned by two major factors: by ideas that European Australians have had about the nature and history of Aboriginal society and by the fact that European Australians have maintained a close and abiding interest in the history of European civilization. For the greater part of the last 200 years, archaeology in Australia has generally meant archaeology done by Australians in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, as part of a more general inquiry into the history of civilization and (more particularly) the archaeology of the Bible. This area remains a significant focus for archaeological activity by Australians, with courses in ancient history, art history, classics, and Near Eastern studies being offered at many Australian universities and with considerable funds being provided by the Australian government to support field research in italy, greece, cyprus, Egypt, turkey, jordan, and Syria.

Since the 1960s, however, there has been a tremendous growth of interest in the archaeology of Aboriginal Australia and in the historical archaeology of European settlement. During this period university departments teaching Australian archaeology have been established, legislation protecting the archaeological heritage of black and white Australians has been passed by state and federal departments, major government agencies (such as the Australian Heritage Commission) have been established to administer such legislation, thousands of sites have been located, recorded, and excavated, and Australian archaeology has acquired international prominence. By far the majority of Australian archaeologists work in this field, and it has now become clear that their discoveries have revolutionized white people’s understanding of Aboriginal society in Australia. The implications of that improved understanding (particularly a growing acceptance of the value of Aboriginal Australia and of the need to restore self-determination to the traditional owners of the continent) have become powerful elements in contemporary Australian politics and society.

In this entry these two branches of Australian archaeology are discussed separately because,