Tachylite in Victorian archaeological sites

Tachylite is an unusual and relatively rare stone used in making flaked stone tools, and which is found in Aboriginal archaeological sites in Victoria, Australia.^[1] The material is rarely found and apparently is sourced from only one known location at Spring Hill near Lauriston, Victoria.^[2][3] There is another historical reference to a source at Green Hill near Trentham, Victoria, but the exact locaiton has not been confirmed. Daniel James Mahony described ...water worn pebbles of pitchstone, a highly silicious volcanic glass associated with tachylite on the Coliban River. Mitchell refers to the distribution of the material with: Small artefacts are common at Willaura, Burrumbeet, Inverleigh, Point Cook and as far north as Dooen near Horsham.^[4]

Tachyte flaked artefacts

Tachylite is a type of volcanic opaque glass, and is applied to basalts with a glassy matrix that contain scattered small phenocrysts (pyroxene, plagioclase, olivine). Aboriginal artefacts flaked from the material are characterised by a black internal colour, which is very often patinated on the surface to a pale grey. This patina rapidly darkens on contact with the skin, turning as dark as the core. Only a few pieces are generally found in archaeological assemblages in southern Victoria and around Melbourne, apart from at sites near Spring Hill, Kyneton, where it is the most common material.^[5][6]

Tachylite artefacts have been noted in Aboriginal sites in Victoria from at least the 1920s, when W. .H Gill recorded its occurrence in a large stone artefact and camp site complex at Cape Liptrap.^[7]

Tachylite has also been identified as a material used in manufacturing flaked stone artefacts in archaeological sites in Europe,^[8] North America,^[9] and India.^[10]

Coordinates: 37°18′57″S 144°20′29″E / 37.315704°S 144.341469°E / -37.315704; 144.341469

References