Roonka is one of the most complete excavations of an Aboriginal burial ground in south-eastern Australia. The chronology of the site and the nature of its use have proven difficult to interpret. Previous dating and chronological interpretations of the site have emphasised a chronology of changing use and burial practices, but the nature of the site and the dates obtained do not clearly support these interpretations. We report on the direct dating of human bone from a further ten burials from the main excavation. In order to further investigate the cultural chronology set out by Pretty (1977), samples were selected to cover a range of burial types and preservation states. Comparison of these dates with the previous conventional dates and early AMS dates not only shows the impact of improving technology but demonstrates that multiple burial styles were in use contemporaneously. Moreover, the results suggest that use of the site may have been discontinuous. Consequently, interpretations that assume a chronological sequence for Roonka based on burial practice are not supported, while analyses based on a synchronic interpretation may ignore significant temporal change.

中文翻译：

---

澳大利亚东南部全新世 Roonka 墓葬的初步修订

Roonka 是澳大利亚东南部原住民墓地中最完整的发掘之一。该网站的年表及其使用性质已证明难以解释。该遗址以前的年代和年代解释强调了使用和埋葬习惯变化的年代顺序，但该遗址的性质和获得的日期并不能明确支持这些解释。我们报告了从主要挖掘的另外十个墓葬中直接确定人骨年代的情况。为了进一步调查 Pretty (1977) 提出的文化年表，选择了涵盖一系列墓葬类型和保存状态的样本。将这些日期与以前的常规日期和早期 AMS 日期进行比较，不仅显示了技术改进的影响，而且表明同时使用了多种墓葬样式。此外，结果表明该网站的使用可能是不连续的。因此，不支持基于埋葬实践假设 Roonka 的时间顺序的解释，而基于共时解释的分析可能会忽略显着的时间变化。