Survey and AMS dating, nine middens, 27 samples

Archaeology research poster example

Nine shell middens dated along four kilometres of coastal dune, laid out on an A0 portrait board with a numbered rail running down the left. The rail turns the board into a reading order, so a visitor who starts at node one finishes at the conclusion without being told where to go.

Create a poster with OneCraftA0 Portrait, printed at 841 by 1189 millimetres

The whole board

The poster at full size, exactly as it prints. Every number, citation and caption on it was written for this example, so the layout is being judged on real content.

Four thousand years of a coastal strip: nine dated shell middens at Kurrawang Point

M. Ferraro ¹, T. Boland ¹, S. Achterberg ², W. Nunn ¹ ²

1 Department of Archaeology, Mereview University · 2 Coastal Heritage Laboratory, Mereview University

ABSTRACT

Nine shell middens sit along four kilometres of dune behind Kurrawang Point, and until this survey none had a date. We opened one test pit at each, took three shell samples per pit and had all 27 dated by accelerator mass spectrometry across three laboratories. The calibrated ages run from 6,820 years before present at the northern end to 2,150 at the southern, a span of 4,670 years, and they fall into four clusters rather than a smooth sequence.

INTRODUCTION

Single midden dates are common in this region and they are almost useless for questions about settlement, because one date tells you a place was used once and nothing about whether the strip was occupied at the same time or in sequence. Dating every midden on one landform changes the question from when was this place used to how did use move along the coast.

METHODS

Excavation. One 0.5 m test pit at each of the nine middens, dug in 5 cm spits to sterile sand.

Dating. Three articulated shell samples per pit, 27 AMS dates across three laboratories, reservoir corrected and calibrated to years BP.

Assemblage. Shell identified to species in the 2 mm sieve residue; eight of the nine pits gave identifiable assemblages.

RESULTS

From north to south, with the calibrated range at two sigma: KP1 6,820 plus or minus 120, KP2 6,570 plus or minus 110, KP3 5,470 plus or minus 90, KP4 5,220 plus or minus 100, KP5 4,070 plus or minus 95, KP6 3,820 plus or minus 85, KP7 2,650 plus or minus 90, KP8 2,400 plus or minus 80 and KP9 2,150 plus or minus 75.

Cockle

Whelk

Figure 1. Shell species share by dated phase, eight pits with identifiable assemblages.

Source: 2 mm sieve residue, Kurrawang Point test pits, 2026.

DISCUSSION

The four clusters are separated by gaps of 1,100 to 1,170 years in which no midden on this strip was in use, and the clusters move steadily south. Read with the species data, the simplest explanation is the estuary itself.

CONCLUSIONS

Occupation of the Kurrawang strip spans 4,670 years, from 6,820 to 2,150 years before present, and it is episodic rather than continuous. Four clusters of use move from north to south, and the shell in them changes from cockle to mud whelk as they do.

REFERENCES

1.Achterberg, S. and Nunn, W. (2025) Reservoir correction for estuarine shell in temperate dune systems. Radiocarbon Practice, 27(3), 401 to 419.

2.Boland, T. (2024) One pit per site: sampling design for midden strips. Australian Coastal Archaeology, 40(2), 88 to 106.

3.Ferraro, M., Lim, C. and Otieno, P. (2026) Species turnover as an estuary proxy at Kurrawang Point. Mereview Archaeology Reports 2026-04.

Block by block

What each block on the board is for, in the order a reader walks it.

Title band and four authors: The title gives the span and the site: four thousand years of a coastal strip, nine dated shell middens. Four authors carry generated superscripts across two affiliations, and the dated sequence runs down the rail beneath them.
Node one, abstract: Nine middens along four kilometres of dune, one test pit each, three shell samples per pit and 27 AMS dates across three laboratories. Calibrated ages run 6,820 to 2,150 years before present, a span of 4,670 years in four clusters rather than a smooth sequence.
Node two, why date the whole strip: A single date tells you a place was used once. The introduction argues that dating every midden on one landform changes the question from when this place was used to how use moved along the coast.
Node three, methods: Three labelled entries: excavation, with one 0.5 metre test pit per midden dug in 5 centimetre spits to sterile sand; dating, with three articulated shell samples per pit and 27 AMS dates across three laboratories, reservoir corrected; and assemblage, with shell identified to species in the 2 millimetre residue from eight of the nine pits.
Node four, the nine dates and the figure: Every calibrated age is listed north to south with its two sigma range, from KP1 at 6,820 to KP9 at 2,150. The figure under it shows cockle and whelk shares across four dated phases, drawn from the eight pits with identifiable assemblages.
Node five, reading the sequence: The discussion groups the dates into four clusters that move south and reads them with the species shift as the estuary changing. The listed dates bear that out: neighbouring middens inside a cluster sit 250 years apart, while the three breaks between clusters run 1,100, 1,150 and 1,170 years, so a visitor can see the grouping in the list.
Node six, conclusion and references: The conclusion restates the 4,670 year span from 6,820 to 2,150 years before present, calls occupation episodic rather than continuous, and ties the southward move to the change from cockle to mud whelk. Three numbered references follow.

What makes this board work

The rail gives the board a reading order

Six numbered nodes run down the left edge, so a reader who starts at the top is carried through abstract, rationale, method, dates, interpretation and conclusion without guessing. On a crowded poster floor, that is worth more than a clever figure.

All nine dates are listed, not summarised

The dates block gives every calibrated age with its two sigma range, from 6,820 plus or minus 120 down to 2,150 plus or minus 75. A poster that reports only a span invites the question the list answers.

The figure explains the sequence rather than repeating it

Rather than plotting the dates again, the figure shows cockle and mud whelk shares across the four dated phases. That is the evidence for the estuary reading in the interpretation block, and it earns its space.

Questions people ask

What goes on an archaeology research poster?

The site and its landform, what was excavated and how, the dates with their error ranges and calibration, the assemblage evidence, the interpretation, and any management implication. Radiocarbon dates without their errors and without a stated reservoir correction are not usable by a reader.

How do I present a set of dates on a poster?

List them in spatial or stratigraphic order with the two sigma range beside each, then use the figure for something else. This board lists all nine dates in a single block from north to south and spends the figure on species composition, which is the evidence for its argument.

Does a timeline layout suit every archaeology study?

It suits a study with an order to it: sites along a transect, phases in a sequence, or stages in a method. It does not suit a single site with one date and several analyses, where a classic column board gives each analysis its own block instead.

What size type do I need for a poster session?

Body text on this board is about 24 pixels on the 1656 by 2340 canvas, which prints near 12 millimetres at A0 and reads at a metre. Keep the numbered rail labels short, because they are set small and are there to mark position rather than to be read from a distance.

How should the gaps between listed dates be checked before calling them clusters?

Subtract each date from its neighbour. On this board the gaps run 250, 1,100, 250, 1,150, 250, 1,170, 250 and 250 years, so every break between clusters is more than four times the widest gap inside one. When you adapt it, state how a cluster was defined, because a reader with the list will do the arithmetic.

How do I adapt this to my own site?

Replace the title and authors, retype the six rail sections, change the five method entries, and edit the dates block directly. The figure holds its own categories and series, so you can change the phases and the species without touching the layout around it.

Build your own in about a minute

The button below opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match your own, generate, then edit anything you like.

Make one like this

Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 29 September 2026.