We would like to thank the An-barra community, who own land around the mouth of An-gartcha Wana (Blyth River) in central Arnhem Land, for welcoming researchers into their community from 1958 up to the present and especially for participating with enthusiasm in the An-barra Archaeological Project described in this publication. Over many years, one An-barra family has played a major role in this process: Frank Gurrmanamana (deceased), his wife, Nancy Bandeiyama (deceased), and their five children (two of whom are also deceased). Following the death of her parents, one of their daughters, Betty Ngurrpangurrpa, has enthusiastically embraced involvement in the project. Betty’s husband, Dominic Mason, has also been generous with his time and knowledge. Other members of the An-barra community (including many children, who were very skilled at sorting shellfish and animal bones into species) observed or participated in the archaeological investigations. Lenna Menzies (deceased) from Tasmania also participated in the excavations at Ji-bena. Shireen Ankin, Ernie Burama, Elva Gindjerakama, Doreen Jinggarrbarra, Dominic Mason, Betty Ngurrpangurrpa and Freda Wyartja, with consultant linguist Margaret Carew, translated the community report included in this publication.
In addition, we have benefited by having access to excellent research carried out by other scholars with the An-barra community over decades – Les Hiatt, Rhys Jones and John Chappell in particular (some of their publications are listed in the References).
We would like to thank the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) for funding the analysis of the An-barra archaeological assemblages and our travel to Maningrida in 2003, and the Australian National University (ANU) for providing office and laboratory space. An Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project (DP120100512) funded a second trip to Maningrida in 2015.
Dr Ella Ussher assisted with the shell analysis. Dr Richard Willan (Curator Emeritus of Molluscs) of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) identified shellfish specimens, checked Appendix 2 and assisted with the repatriation of the An-barra archaeological collection. The archaeological material from the An-gartcha Wana sites is now stored at MAGNT in Darwin. Carto-GIS and Adam Black drew the maps and formatted the tables and figures. Dr Billy Ó Foghlú calibrated the dates, adapted Betty and Rhys’ section drawings from the excavation at Ji-bena and created the geomorphology map from John Chappell’s “mud map”. Thanks also to two anonymous reviewers who made helpful suggestions.
We have sought permission from An-barra people to use their photographs in this publication. In some cases, they were unable to remember the names of some of the children because these were taken so long ago (and I had not fully documented them in my field notes), sometimes before some of the people I consulted were born! All the people I consulted were pleased to see the images and delighted that they would appear in the publication. Owners of the photographs are acknowledged in the captions. Please be aware that this publication contains images of people who have passed away.