This collection of maps, drawings and typescript relates to the excavations at the James Range East Rockshelter in 1973 and 1974. This was part of a grant awarded to the University of Hawaii by the National Science Foundation (USA) for a project titled "Aboriginal Adaptation in the Australian Desert" under the direction of RA Gould (1939-2020).

Richard Allan Gould (1939-2020)

Richard (Dick) Gould was born in Newton, Massachusetts, in 1939.

Dick lived in several communities in the Boston area and received his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley in 1965. His first job was Assistant Curator of North American archaeology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. After six months at the Museum, Dick and his wife Elizabeth (Betsy) went to Australia for their first fieldwork.

In 1971 Dick accepted a job at the University of Hawaii, where he often taught the anthropology course in Manoa. In 1973 an expedition to the Central Desert was headed by Dick, who was then Associate Professor, Anthropology Department at the University of Hawaii. During this expedition a large section of the 'interior' was surveyed and numerous 'trenches' examined. They worked extensively on caves in the James Range East (intirtekqwerle). The expedition carried on into 1974.

In 1981 Dick joined the Anthropology Department at Brown University, Rhode Island and taught there until he retired in 2009.

Betty Ross (nee Tipping) (1948-1994)

The following is an extract from an obiturary published 2014 by the Australian Archaeology Association.

Betty Ross (BA[Hons] ANU 1977) died in September 1994 at age 46 after a long illness. Betty's interest in prehistory began sometime in the late 1960s. From 1970–73 she worked at weekends as a volunteer draftsman on the Roonka excavations, run by the South Australian Museum, and some of the fine, detailed drawings of the prehistoric burials are her work. The work at Roonka inspired Bet to undertake a degree in Prehistory at The Australian National University, one of a small group of South Australians who made that journey to follow their vocation. She went on to dig with Sandor Gallus at Koonalda Cave (1974), Dick Gould at the James Range East site in Central Australia (1974), John Beaton at Cathedral Cave in the central Queensland highlands (1975) and with Jim O'Connell in Central Australia (1975). Her BA Honours thesis in 1977 concerned the taphonomy of agile wallaby remains at Motupore and Collingwood Bay, Papua New Guinea. She will be remembered for her enthusiasm for the subject, her strong interest in bone taphonomy. During her time at ANU she developed a talent for stone artefact drawing, some examples of which grace Brim Hayden'sPalaeolithic Reflections. After graduating, Betty worked in the Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, The University of New England, before returning to her home state, South Australia, where she worked as a consultant archaeologist for ten years. She moved to Hobart in 1989 and for a while continued to work as a consultant. As her illness progressed she became less active in archaeology.

The map and drawings were recorded as received into the South Australian Museum Archives collection in 1974. There are also 2 handwritten notes:

1. Hand written note (undated) addressed as follows: 'Graeme, These are the field drawings (paintings & engravings) from Goulds [sic] expedition- also a copy of the paper which is to accompany them. Could you please file them with Goulds [sic] other work. Thanks Bet'. 'Bet' yet to be confirmed as Betty Ross.

2. Also a note initialled 'GP' (Graeme Pretty) dated '1.1.74' .

Further reading and list of expedition members: Asian Perspective Vol 21 No1 (1978) pg 86-126 'James Range East Rockshelter, Northern Territory, Australia; A Summary of the 1973 and 1974 Investigations.'