A high-density stone artefact assemblage at Kororoit Creek, Rockbank, Victoria

Recent archaeological salvage work associated with the recommendations of a Cultural Heritage Management Plan (CHMP) was undertaken for the Woodlea residential development at Rockbank, Victoria, in which areas of highdensity surface and subsurface archaeological deposits were identified across the landscape, and particularly on landforms in proximity to Kororoit Creek. During the archaeological salvage works, a series of twelve 25 m2 salvage areas were excavated, with over 17,000 Aboriginal stone artefacts recovered. This paper focuses on an extraordinarily high-density stone artefact assemblage (over 13,000 artefacts) identified within one of these investigation areas adjacent to Kororoit Creek, where stone artefact attribute and residue/use-wear analyses of the assemblage permit a glimpse of the range of past land-use activities that occurred within the Rockbank landscape. However, 3D distributional analysis of the archaeological material indicates that the assemblage does not represent a stratigraphically intact deposit, as much of the assemblage was transported by post-depositional processes. Through examination by a series of specific research questions, this work enhances our understanding of the nature of Aboriginal occupation on the Volcanic Plains of western Victoria