Ethnographic Interpretations of the Prehistory of Western Arnhem Land

The prehistoric sequence in North West Arnhem Land is described. This is derived from archaeological excavations in stratified deposits of the rock shelters in two adjacent ecological zones: a coastal plain and a plateau. A marked cultural dichotomy emerges between the material in these two zones, and this difference apparently persisted for some 7,000 years until the ethnographic present, about 100 years ago. An attempt is made in this paper to account for this phenomenon by drawing on the field evidence, historical records, and modern ethnographic observations.