A Record in Bone

Bone and tooth tools and ornaments have been made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for at least 46,000 years some of the oldest organic technologies in the world. Despite their beauty, sophistication, and ubiquity, archaeologists and other researchers have overwhelmingly focused on the stone artefacts of Australia. Consequently, until now, we knew little of how bone and tooth objects were made and used, or how individual communities differed in how they worked with these distinct