An Aboriginal campsite on the Maribyrnong River - new dates for Keilor

This paper focuses on the excavation and dating of an Aboriginal hearth situated on the banks of the Maribyrnong River in Melbourne's northwestern suburbs. In the Maribyrnong River Valley a distinct sequence of Late Pleistocene and Holocene alluvial terraces has yielded a rich archaeological past, including an in situ feature clearly embedded within sediments associated with the Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene (18000 - 9000 B.P) Keilor Terrace Unit. The results of Optical Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating at the site indicate Aboriginal people were opportunistically occupying the valley and, in the case of this particular archaeological feature, camping here around 15800 years ago