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.

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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. Species composition shifts with age: cockle dominates the oldest middens and mud whelk rises steadily in the youngest, which is the pattern expected as an estuary mouth silts and moves.

Why date the whole strip

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. The strip is also under pressure: two of the nine sites have lost material to erosion since they were recorded in 1998, and a third sits under a proposed track alignment, so the dates carry a management value as well as a research one. A strip with nine dates can be argued about; a strip with one cannot.

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.

The nine dates

From north to south, with the calibrated range at two sigma: KP1 6,820 plus or minus 120, KP2 6,340 plus or minus 110, KP3 5,400 plus or minus 90, KP4 4,910 plus or minus 100, KP5 4,300 plus or minus 95, KP6 3,900 plus or minus 85, KP7 3,100 plus or minus 90, KP8 2,600 plus or minus 80 and KP9 2,150 plus or minus 75. The three samples within each pit agree to within their own error ranges in eight of the nine, so each midden represents a short episode rather than centuries of accumulation. KP4 is the exception, with a base to top spread of 640 years, and it is also the only pit with a hearth feature at the base. Laboratory agreement was good: the three laboratories returned results within 90 years of each other on the four samples that were split and sent to more than one.

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.

Reading the sequence

The four clusters are separated by gaps of 500 to 800 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. Cockle beds need a sandy open mouth and mud whelk prefers the soft sediment that builds up as a mouth closes, so a shift from 71% cockle in the oldest phase to 44% whelk in the youngest tracks an estuary silting and breaking out further south. That reading makes the gaps intervals when the mouth was in the wrong place for either species to be worth collecting in quantity, rather than intervals when nobody was here.

Conclusion

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. Two of the nine middens are actively eroding and one lies under a proposed track, so three of the four phases are represented by a single dated deposit each and would not survive being lost. The management recommendation that follows is narrow and cheap: move the track alignment 40 metres inland, and record KP2 and KP7 in full before the next storm season rather than after it. Nothing in this survey needs a second excavation season to be useful.

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, four authors and two QR codes: 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 board holds a QR code in the title band and a second at the foot.
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. Dating every midden on one landform changes the question from when this place was used to how use moved along the coast, and two of the nine sites are actively eroding.
Node three, methods: Five labelled entries: the nine middens revisited from 1998 site cards, one 0.5 metre test pit each excavated in 5 centimetre spits, three articulated shell samples per pit, AMS dating with marine reservoir correction, and identification to species in the 2 millimetre residue.
Node four, the nine dates and the figure: Every calibrated age is listed north to south with its two sigma range, followed by the note that samples within a pit agree in eight of the nine. The figure under it shows cockle and mud whelk shares across the four dated phases.
Node five, reading the sequence: The four clusters are separated by gaps of 500 to 800 years and move steadily south. Read with the species shift, the simplest explanation is an estuary silting and breaking out further south rather than a strip that was abandoned and reoccupied.
Node six, conclusion and references: Occupation spans 4,670 years and is episodic, three of the four phases rest on a single dated deposit each, and the management recommendation is narrow: move the track alignment inland and record two eroding middens before the next storm season.

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.

Can I print this at 300 DPI for a conference?

The export is twice the working canvas, so an A0 portrait board leaves at 3312 by 4680 pixels, roughly 100 DPI at A0. That is standard for large format work seen from a metre. If your printer asks for bleed, crop marks or CMYK, none of those are produced here.

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.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 12 September 2026.