Clothing and Modern Human Behaviour in Australia

Abstract

Recent reviews have highlighted the challenges posed by the Australian archaeological record for the concept of modern human behaviour. The archaeologically-visible components make only a limited, sporadic and generally delayed appearance in Australia, despite the presence of modern humans on the continent from 45,000 years ago. It is suggested here that some key aspects of modern human behaviour relate to the use and manufacture of clothing for thermal reasons, and that by connecting some components to the manufacture and repercussions of clothing, their fluctuating occurrence can be linked to varying environmental conditions throughout the late Pleistocene, and earlier. One region of special interest for the debate is Tasmania, where certain signs of behavioural modernity ( bone tools, resource specialization, novel lithic technology and, briefly, cave art) emerged during the Last Glacial Maximum, only to diminish or disappear during the Holocene. It is argued that a clothing-based model of modern human behaviour is more viable than existing formulations not only in Australia but perhaps globally.