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Gymea and the Fishing Technologies of the New South Wales Coast, Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2021

Clive Freeman ,
Julie Freeman  and
Michelle C. Langley Open the ORCID record for Michelle C. Langley [Opens in a new window]
Clive Freeman
Affiliation:
Yuin Nation Email: clive.freeman@y7mail.com
Julie Freeman
Affiliation:
Yuin Nation
Michelle C. Langley
Affiliation:
Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution Environmental Futures Research Institute Griffith University N78 170 Kessels Road Nathan, QLD4111Australia & Forensics and Archaeology School of Environment and Science Griffith University N78 170 Kessels Road Nathan, QLD4111Australia Email: m.langley@griffith.edu.au
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Abstract

Stories are important to all modern peoples, and this behaviour was no doubt also the case during the deep past. Consequently, it is important that archaeologists understand that artefacts made and discarded thousands of years ago were woven with stories by the peoples who produced them. In some regions of the world, these stories remain accessible by collaborating with the Traditional Owners of the lands from which they were recovered, while in others such an approach is impossible. Nevertheless, researchers need to remember that items carried meaning usually invisible to those outside communities—a principle often taught and cited, but possibly not fully appreciated. Here we tell the Yuin (coastal New South Wales, Australia) story of Gymea and her connection to fishing technologies. This story is told in order to demonstrate the depth of information that is not accessible to archaeologists if Indigenous collaborators are not sought out or available.

Type
Special Section: When Materials Speak about Ontology: A Hunter-Gatherer Perspective
Information
Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , May 2021 , pp. 305 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

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