Continent of Hunter-Gatherers New Perspectives in Australian Prehistory [Paperback]

Discusses socio-economic processes of Aboriginal Australians as complex, dynamic and revolutionary.This book challenges traditional perceptions of Australian Aboriginal prehistory: that environment is the major determinant of hunter-gatherers; that Aborigines were egalitarian and culturally homogeneous; that they experienced few economic and demographic changes. Lourandos argues that their social and economic processes were complex and that the prehistory period was dynamic. Lourandos considers colonisation, Tasmanian Aborigines, the role of fire, the intensification debate, plant exploitation and other prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies.This book challenges traditional perceptions of Australian Aboriginal prehistory: that environment is the major determinant of hunter-gatherers; that Aborigines were egalitarian and culturally homogeneous; that they experienced few economic and demographic changes. Lourandos argues that their social and economic processes were complex and that the prehistory period was dynamic. Lourandos considers colonisation, Tasmanian Aborigines, the role of fire, the intensification debate, plant exploitation and other prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies.This book challenges traditional perceptions of Australian Aboriginal prehistory: that environment is the major determinant of hunter-gatherers; that Aborigines were egalitarian and culturally homogeneous; that they experienced few economic and demographic changes. Lourandos argues that their social and economic processes were complex and that the prehistory period was dynamic. Lourandos considers colonization, Tasmanian Aborigines, the role of fire, the intensification debate, plant exploitation and other prehistoric hunter-gatherer societies.Introduction: changing perspectives; 1. Hunter-gatherer variation in time and space; 2. Australian Aboriginal hunter-gatherers; 3. Out of Asia: earliest evidence and people; 4. The tropical north; 5. Arid and semiarid Australia; 6. Temperate southern l“¸