Resumen de Hidden in plain sight: the archaeological landscape of Mithaka Country, south-west Queensland

Michael C. Westaway, Douglas Williams, Kelsey Lowe, Nathan J. Wright, Ray Kerkhove, Jennifer Silcock, Joshua Gorringe, Justyna J. Miszkiewicz, Rachel Wood, Richard Adams, Tiina Manne, Shaun Adams, Tony Miscamble, Justin Stout, Gabriel D. Wrobel, Justine Kemp, Brooke Hendry, Max Gorringe, Betty Gorringe, Keiron Lander, Shawnee Gorringe, Ian Andrews, Mark Collard

• Ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the people of Australia's Channel Country engaged in activities rarely recorded elsewhere on the continent, including food storage, aquaculture and possible cultivation, yet there has been little archaeological fieldwork to verify these accounts. Here, the authors report on a collaborative research project initiated by the Mithaka people addressing this lack of archaeological investigation. The results show that Mithaka Country has a substantial and diverse archaeological record, including numerous large stone quarries, multiple ritual structures and substantial dwellings. Our archaeological research revealed unknown aspects, such as the scale of Mithaka quarrying, which could stimulate re-evaluation of Aboriginal socio-economic systems in parts of ancient Australia.