Geoarchaeology and the archaeological record in the coastal Moreton Region, Queensland, Australia

Some 30 years of intensive archaeological research in coastal southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales have produced a large database of dated sites recording over at least 20,000 years of Aboriginal occupation. This database, and in particular the spatio-temporal distribution of dated sites, has been employed somewhat uncritically as a representative sample to support various interpretive models of cultural change in the region. However, as little attention has been paid to the substantial sample biases inherent in this important record such interpretive arguments remain rather speculative scenarios. This paper identifies and explicates critical issues relating to the use of such data in constructing models of cultural change in this region via three case studies and closes with an appeal for consideration of these in future research.