If These Stones Could Talk – An attempt to enlighten a four-variable archaeological problem. Two macro-blades from Paraburdoo (Pilbara Region, Western Australia)

Attila Péntek

Independent researcher, Kistarcsa, Hungary; E-mail: attila.pentek@yahoo.com, ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3471-897X


Cite as: Péntek, A. (2023). If These Stones Could Talk – An attempt to enlighten a four-variable archaeological problem. Two macro-blades from Paraburdoo (Pilbara Region, Western Australia). In A. Király (Ed.), From tea leaves to leaf-shaped tools. Studies in honour of Zsolt Mester on his sixtieth birthday (pp. 281–296). Lithic Research Roundtable & Institute of Archaeological Sciences, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. https://doi.org/10.23898/litikumsi02a13

Abstract: The following article presents two chipped stone blades held by the author. The blades, in the company of other chipped lithic artefacts, were sold at the International Mineral Exchange in Hamburg in the mid-1990s. There was an accompanying notice to the blades, with additional information in incorrect German language: “Aboriginals Artefakten Jung Paläolithikum 15.000 bis 9.500 v, Chr. Steingeräte mit typische Levallois technique (abschläge) –  F.O. UA. DINGO POOL bei PARABURDOO in Nord West Australien nach A. Wouters 1989.” However, there are several vague questions about both the supposed archaeological site and the reference to a person named A. Wouters and the so-called Levallois technique cited. Below we will try to take a closer look at these details.

Keywords: Western Australia, “Leilira” macro-blade, Basalt

The author gratefully acknowledges the professional support during the processing of Kim Akerman (University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia) and Mark W. Moore (University of New England, Armidale New South Wales, Australia).

Data availability statement: The author confirms that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Funding statement: The author received no financial support for the research and/or the publication of this article.

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike International Public License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). You are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and transform the material, under the following terms: You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may not use the material for commercial purposes. If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

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