The Sea People: Late Holocene Maritime Specialisation in the Whitsunday Islands, Central Queensland

By Bryce Barker

The Sea People presents the archaeological data relating to the Holocene occupation of the Whitsunday Islands region of the Central Queensland coast. This research provides details of the two oldest sites of Aboriginal occupation on the tropical east coast of Australia, as well as formulating a model of late Holocene change for the wider region. Essentially this work supports the idea of a dynamic Aboriginal society and presents the archaeological evidence for a specialised marine Aboriginal culture continuously utilising the marine environment throughout the Holocene.