Dating Aboriginal stone-walled fishtraps at Lake Condah, southeast Australia

Direct dating of stone-walled fishtraps has been a methodological challenge in archaeology and is generally considered insurmountable. Dating is usually associative, linking traps to local archaeological sites and geomorphological features of known age. Limited excavation of sediments burying the lower sections of stone-walled fishtrap features has been previously undertaken with limited success. Recent fine-grained excavation and comprehensive AMS dating and analysis of channel in-fill sediments associated with an elaborate freshwater fishtrap complex at Lake Condah, western Victoria, yields reliable insights into the phased construction and use of the feature. An early phase of basalt bedrock removal to create a bifurcated channel was subsequently in-filled with flood sediments incorporating stone artefacts and charcoal dated to c.6600 cal BP. After a hiatus, basalt blocks were added to the sides of the channel to create multi-tiered walls within the past 600–800 years. This site provides the first direct insights into the antiquity of the elaborate fishtrapping and aquaculture system developed by Aboriginal people in the Lake Condah region, and may represent one of the world’s oldest known fishtraps.

Excavations at a large Aboriginal freshwater fishtrap at Lake Condah, western Victoria, Australia, indicate initial channel construction by removal of basalt lava blocks around 6600 years ago, with basalt block walls added to the sides of the channel within the past 800 years.Figure optionsDownload high-quality image (108 K)Download as PowerPoint slideHighlights
► New archaeological approach to dating fishtraps.
► First direct dating of fishtraps at Lake Condah, Australia.
► These traps were first constructed at least 6600 years ago.
► The traps are amongst the oldest known in the world.