ABSTRACT The Aboriginal stone arrangements of Australia’s northwest Pilbara region are cultural features of considerable interest to Australian scholars. Despite decades of investigation, the function and purpose of the stone constructions remain largely enigmatic. In the absence of physical evidence, most researchers contend that stone arrangements served a ceremonial and ritualistic function. This viewpoint is based largely on ethnographic literature from elsewhere in Australia; however, we suggest that the pan-Australian applicability of ethnographic observations is inappropriate without supporting archaeological evidence. In this article, we characterize stone artifact scatters associated with stone arrangement sites near the Gurdadaguji Valley, in the east Hamersley Range of Western Australia, and argue that assemblage attributes can provide insight on the different kinds of activities that occurred in proximity to particular stone arrangement designs. We use this evidence-based information in conjunction with local ethnography to suggest that some types of stone arrangements functioned as symbolic cultural monuments rather than as places where ceremonial or ritualistic activities occurred.

中文翻译：

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故事在岩石中：石器物散点如何使我们了解古代原住民石器排列功能

摘要澳大利亚西北皮尔巴拉地区的原住民石器布置是澳大利亚学者颇感兴趣的文化特征。尽管进行了数十年的研究，但石材结构的功能和用途仍在很大程度上难以为继。在没有物理证据的情况下，大多数研究人员认为，石刻布置具有仪式和仪式功能。这种观点主要基于澳大利亚其他地方的民族志文献。但是，我们建议，在没有考古证据支持的情况下，民族志学观察的泛澳大利亚适用性是不合适的。在本文中，我们将描述与西澳大利亚州东部Hamersley山脉的Gurdadaguji山谷附近的石器布置场所相关的石器物散布，并认为，组合属性可以洞察在特定石材布置设计附近发生的各种活动。我们将这种基于证据的信息与当地的民族志结合起来使用，以表明某些类型的石器布置起着象征性的文化古迹的作用，而不是用作进行仪式或仪式活动的场所。