Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu has been in the news again this week, with anthropologist Peter Sutton and archaeologist Keryn Walshe releasing their own book critiquing Pascoe’s work. In particular, they question Dark Emu’s central argument that pre-colonial Aboriginal people practised agriculture, suggesting Pascoe is dismissive of the achievements of hunter-gatherer societies.

But as Michael Westaway and Joshua Gorringe write today, contemporary archaeological research may hold the key to debates around Dark Emu. They report on a major research project, working with the Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation in the Channel Country in Central Australia, which seeks to test Pascoe’s hypothesis.

They are investigating Aboriginal settlement sites and pit dwelling huts and have found more than 140 quarries where rock was excavated to make seed grinding stones. Using sophisticated techniques, they are searching for evidence of villages, combing through ancient fireplaces and studying plant use.

Were First Australians farmers or hunter-gatherers? Contemporary archaeological research suggests it’s not a simple dichotomy, they write. But this multidisciplinary research, involving traditional owner knowledge, can create a richer, more nuanced understanding of pre-colonial Indigenous life.

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