Australian plants as Aboriginal Tools - Hardcover

This book shows what types of plants were used to make Aboriginal weapons, tools, shelter, watercraft, ceremonial objects, clothing, ornaments, and paint. The book also shows how hunter gatherers lived, and it demonstrates the differences across Aboriginal Australia. It is jointly concerned with the ethnobotany and economic botany of Aboriginal Australia, and it includes amazing photographs of the weapons, clothes, baskets, fish traps, etc. Author Philip A. Clark is a consultant on ethnobotany and anthropology. Clarke spent 30 years at the South Australian Museum, where he was Head of Anthropology and Manager of Sciences at the South Australian Museum and was the Principal Curator of the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery in Adelaide. Contents include: Plants into Artifacts * The Australian Aboriginal Toolkit * Ephemeral Subsistence Tools * Camp Life Ephemera * Working with Green Timber * Sticking Things Together * Universal Wrappers of Bark and Broad-leaves * From Fiber to Object * Plants to Decorate * Aboriginal Artifacts in Transition * The 'New' Material Culture * Plants, Artifacts, and Cultural Identity *** "This is a fascinating book for those interested in the interactions of plants and humans over time and space." Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden. *** "...highly recommend this book to anyone studying Australian ethnobotany, as well as any ethnobotanist with an interest in indigenous tool production. Those with an interest in how cultural plant use changes over time will also find this book informative." - Economic Botany, Vol. 67, 2013 *** "I could spend hours reading this account on how Aboriginal Australian hunter-gathers lived....Wonderful photographs show an impressive array of weapons, tools, shelter, watercraft, ceremonial objects, clothing, ornaments, and paint made from plants." - American Herb Association 28:4, 2013

Phillip A Clarke is a consultant on ethnobotany and anthropology. He spent 30 years at the South Australian Museum where he was Head of Anthropology and Manager of Sciences at the South Australian Museum and was the Principal Curator of the Australian Aboriginal Cultures Gallery in Adelaide.