Investigating Wiradjuri marara (carved trees or dendroglyphs) and dhabuganha (burials) in the Central Tablelands, southeastern Australia

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map showing location of study area in relation to NSW, Wiradjuri Country, Central Tablelands and Molong (left), and Australia and New South Wales (right).

Figure 2. Top to bottom, and left to right: photographs of TSR carved tree, TSR carved tree detail, TSR fallen scarred tree, Yuranigh’s Grave Carved Tree 4, Yuranigh’s Grave Carved Tree 1 detail (with inset image showing carved tree from afar).

Figure 3. Interviews with Wiradjuri Elders, knowledge holders and community at the TSR. From left to right, Caroline Spry, Chris Jones, James Williams, Uncle Neil Ingram (in front), Greg Ingram (behind), Terry McLean, Ian 'Doug’ Sutherland, Dale Carr, Aiden Leonard, Aunty Alice Williams, Kayla Nugent and Michelle Hines.

Table 1. Details of GPR survey in Survey Area 1 and Survey Area 2.

Attribute	Survey Area 1	Survey Area 2
Date	22 February 2021	23 February 2021
Unit	MALA ProEx Ground Penetrating System unit with 500 MHz shielded antenna	MALA ProEx Ground Penetrating System unit with 500 MHz shielded antenna
Software for processing and interpreting results	GPR-SLICE (Version 7.MT) and GprViewer (Version 1.8.5)	GPR-SLICE (Version 7.MT) and GprViewer (Version 1.8.5)
Survey area dimensions	25 m (east to west) by 30 m (north to south)	9 m (east to west) by 12 m (north to south)
Survey direction	Zig-zag pattern	Zig-zag pattern
Transects	61	19
Start and end transects	DAT_0146_A1 to DAT_0206_A1	DAT_0207_A1 to DAT_225_A1
Method for checking accuracy of horizontal distances	Odometer	Odometer
Time window	60.1 ns	60.1 ns
Velocity	60 ns	60 ns
Point interval	0.020	0.020
Sampling frequency	5089.06 MHz	5089.06 MHz
Maximum time window	Short	Short
Autostacks	Off	Off
Stacks	1	1
dGPS used to plot each corner of the survey area	Leica Viva GS15 (dense tree cover affected the accuracy of some co-ordinates)	Leica Viva GS15 (dense tree cover affected the accuracy of some co-ordinates)
Limitations	Rabbit holes, tree stumps	Rabbit holes, tree stumps and other vegetation

Table 2. Camera settings and software used for photogrammetry in Survey Area 1 and Survey Area 2.

Attribute	Survey Area 1 and Survey Area 2
Light sensitivity (ISO) values	100/200
Lens opening (aperture) ranges	f7–f11
Photo format	Nikon Electronic Format (NEF)
Overlap between each photo taken on the same line (forward overlap)	80%
Overlap between each photo taken on adjacent lines (side overlap)	60%
Lens	35 mm prime
Correction required	No
Photos converted to	Tag Image File Format (TIFF) or Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPG)
Photos imported into	Agisoft Metashape computer software (Version 1.6.3)
Photo alignment	Yes
Data points in space created (point cloud generation)	Yes
Editing to remove data points and areas not needed for 3D models	Yes
Model sizes	200 MB
Model formal	GL Transmission Format Binary File (GLB)
Web browser hosting models	Sketchfab

Figure 4. Locations of nine areas of interest detected in the reflection profiles in Survey Area 1 (note that 0156 and 0162 are metal).

Figure 5. Processed reflection profiles (A) 0162, (B) 0146, (C) 0150, (D) 0159, (E) 0169, and (F) 0170 in Survey Area 1, and (G) 0207, and (H) 0212 in Survey Area 2.

Figure 6. Horizontal slices (amplitude maps) of Survey Area 1 at 0.0–5.9 ns (0–0.4 m), 4.9–10.8 ns (0.3–0.7 m), 10.0–15.9 ns (0.6–1 m), 14.9–20.8 ns (0.9–1.3 m) and 19.8–25.7 ns (1.2–1.6 m).

Figure 7. Horizontal slices (amplitude maps) of Survey Area 2 at 0–0.3 m (0–5.1 ns), 0.3–0.6 m (4.9–10 ns), 0.6–0.9 m (9.8–14.9 ns), 0.9–1.2 m (14.7–19.8 ns) and 1.2–1.5 m (19.7–24.8 ns).

Figure 8. 3D model of TSR marara.

Figure 9. 3D model of TSR woman’s fallen scarred tree.

Figure 10. 3D model of Yuranigh’s Grave marara (Carved Tree 4).