An assemblage of resin-mounted macropod incisors from Quinkan Country, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland

This paper reports on the first identification of macropod incisor ornaments from a non-burial context in northeast Australia. While ethnographic museum collections demonstrate the vibrant traditional organic material culture of the Indigenous peoples of Australia, the vagaries of preservation mean such items are only rarely recovered archaeologically. The Late Holocene Windmill Way site in southeast Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, is one such remarkable exception. Amongst its diverse archaeological assemblage are 12 macropod incisors with balls of resin adhesive attached to their roots. The resin residues were analysed using Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) chemical analyses, in conjunction with microscopy and some with AMS accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating. Results indicate that the resin predominately derives from Xanthorrhoea (grass tree), while AMS dating of two resin samples indicates the objects are 1,100–1,300 years old. The absence of non-resin residues and use-wear on the teeth suggests that they were not used for utilitarian tasks, such as cutting, scraping or drilling. Rather, the objects appear to have been components of an item of personal adornment, such as a necklace or headband, with the resin balls serving to fix the plant fibre string to the teeth. One fragment of cut hide and several plant fibres directly associated with the resin, together with the presence of hundreds of fragments of 2-ply plant fibre twine in the site, support the proposition that these artefacts may have been strung. Further support for this interpretation comes from motifs in the rock art of the nearby Biniirr National Park that depict strung objects of similar shape and size. The results demonstrate the value of FTIR and LC-MS analyses for resin identification, and highlight the need to carefully assess macropod incisors, even in the absence of obvious macroscopic signs of resin hafting.