Fish and Fishing on a Western Torres Strait Island, Northern Australia: Ethnographic and Archaeological Perspectives

Abstract

A picture of the past lifestyle of a people gained through the study of ethnographic documentation may be significantly different from one based only upon the interpretation of archaeological data. This paper examines that assertion by comparing the results of an analysis of fish remains from a coastal-midden site on Mabuiag Island, Torres Strait, with European descriptions of Islander fishing practices recorded in the latter half of the nineteenth century.