Using satellite imagery to evaluate precontact Aboriginal foraging habitats in the Australian Western Desert

Abstract Modern satellite imaging offers radical new insights of the challenges and opportunities confronting traditional Aboriginal ecology and land use in Australia’s Western Desert. We model the likely dynamics of historic and precontact desert land use using Earth observation data to identify th...

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Autores principales:	W. Boone Law, Peter Hiscock, Bertram Ostendorf, Megan Lewis
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2670b9fdc9ee4c4784e5846e99185675
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2670b9fdc9ee4c4784e5846e991856752021-12-02T14:49:10ZUsing satellite imagery to evaluate precontact Aboriginal foraging habitats in the Australian Western Desert10.1038/s41598-021-89642-12045-2322https://doaj.org/article/2670b9fdc9ee4c4784e5846e991856752021-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-89642-1https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Modern satellite imaging offers radical new insights of the challenges and opportunities confronting traditional Aboriginal ecology and land use in Australia’s Western Desert. We model the likely dynamics of historic and precontact desert land use using Earth observation data to identify the distribution of suitable foraging habitats. Suitability was modelled for an ideal environmental scenario, based on satellite observations of maximal water abundance, vegetation greenness, and terrain ruggedness. Our model shows that the highest-ranked foraging habitats do not align with land systems or bioregions that have been used in previous reconstructions of Australian prehistory. We identify impoverished desert areas where unsuitable foraging conditions have likely persisted since early in the last glacial cycle, and in which occupation would always have been rare. These findings lead us to reconsider past patterns of land use and the predicted archaeological signature of earlier desert peoples.W. Boone LawPeter HiscockBertram OstendorfMegan LewisNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-14 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q W. Boone Law Peter Hiscock Bertram Ostendorf Megan Lewis Using satellite imagery to evaluate precontact Aboriginal foraging habitats in the Australian Western Desert
description	Abstract Modern satellite imaging offers radical new insights of the challenges and opportunities confronting traditional Aboriginal ecology and land use in Australia’s Western Desert. We model the likely dynamics of historic and precontact desert land use using Earth observation data to identify the distribution of suitable foraging habitats. Suitability was modelled for an ideal environmental scenario, based on satellite observations of maximal water abundance, vegetation greenness, and terrain ruggedness. Our model shows that the highest-ranked foraging habitats do not align with land systems or bioregions that have been used in previous reconstructions of Australian prehistory. We identify impoverished desert areas where unsuitable foraging conditions have likely persisted since early in the last glacial cycle, and in which occupation would always have been rare. These findings lead us to reconsider past patterns of land use and the predicted archaeological signature of earlier desert peoples.
format	article
author	W. Boone Law Peter Hiscock Bertram Ostendorf Megan Lewis
author_facet	W. Boone Law Peter Hiscock Bertram Ostendorf Megan Lewis
author_sort	W. Boone Law
title	Using satellite imagery to evaluate precontact Aboriginal foraging habitats in the Australian Western Desert
title_short	Using satellite imagery to evaluate precontact Aboriginal foraging habitats in the Australian Western Desert
title_full	Using satellite imagery to evaluate precontact Aboriginal foraging habitats in the Australian Western Desert
title_fullStr	Using satellite imagery to evaluate precontact Aboriginal foraging habitats in the Australian Western Desert
title_full_unstemmed	Using satellite imagery to evaluate precontact Aboriginal foraging habitats in the Australian Western Desert
title_sort	using satellite imagery to evaluate precontact aboriginal foraging habitats in the australian western desert
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/2670b9fdc9ee4c4784e5846e99185675
work_keys_str_mv	AT wboonelaw usingsatelliteimagerytoevaluateprecontactaboriginalforaginghabitatsintheaustralianwesterndesert AT peterhiscock usingsatelliteimagerytoevaluateprecontactaboriginalforaginghabitatsintheaustralianwesterndesert AT bertramostendorf usingsatelliteimagerytoevaluateprecontactaboriginalforaginghabitatsintheaustralianwesterndesert AT meganlewis usingsatelliteimagerytoevaluateprecontactaboriginalforaginghabitatsintheaustralianwesterndesert
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Using satellite imagery to evaluate precontact Aboriginal foraging habitats in the Australian Western Desert

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