This paper challenges the oft-repeated conventional story of the beginning of ‘modern’ Australian archaeology, seen as the era of the professional archaeologist that succeeded an undisciplined phase of indiscriminate collecting of skulls and stone artefacts by ‘amateurs’ who, on the whole, believed that Indigenous Australians had arrived on the continent so recently that any excavation of archaeological sites would be pointless. Cambridge-trained John Mulvaney’s excavations at Fromm’s Landing on the Murray River in South Australia commencing in January 1956 have been seen most recently as marking the decisive break, one between ‘good’, professional and ethical archaeology and the earlier ‘bad’ amateur period of mere antiquarianism, ignoring the concerns of and trampling upon the rights of Indigenous Australians in the spirit of triumphant colonialism. This contrast is inaccurate, overdrawn, and ignores the positive contribution of many earlier conscientious scholars; labelling all of them as ‘amateurs’ confuses rather than enlightens the history of Australian archaeology.

中文翻译：

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你被告知的关于澳大利亚考古历史的一切都是错误的！

这篇论文挑战了“现代”澳大利亚考古学开始的经常重复的传统故事，被视为专业考古学家的时代成功了“业余爱好者”不分青红皂白地收集头骨和石制品的无纪律阶段，总的来说，相信土著澳大利亚人最近才抵达这片大陆，任何考古遗址的挖掘都是毫无意义的。1956 年 1 月在南澳大利亚墨累河的弗洛姆登陆处接受剑桥培训的约翰·穆尔瓦尼 (John Mulvaney) 的发掘最近被视为标志着决定性的突破，介于“良好”、专业和道德考古学与早期单纯的古玩，本着胜利的殖民主义精神，无视和践踏澳大利亚土著人的权利。这种对比是不准确的、透支的，并且忽略了许多早期有良心的学者的积极贡献；将所有这些人都贴上“业余爱好者”的标签只会混淆而不是启发澳大利亚考古学的历史。