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Based on a division between written and oral history, the term "prehistory" is problematic for archaeologists in several ways. In Australia, for example, this division creates a false dichotomy, masking the coexistence of written and oral history in many parts of the country. Written language was introduced by British settlers, but settlement of the continent continued over an extended period--from 1788 in Sydaey until well into the twentieth century in the Western Desert. Thus, any distinction in archaeology between "historic"(written) and prehistoric"(oral) creates an artificial boundary within a period of continuous transition. More important, though, the term privileges written histories over oral ones. As Rhonda Craven argues, the term denies the validity of traditional Aboriginal experience and knowledge, which may then achieve legitimization only when oral evidence is transformed into written texts. In fact, oral histories are not only valid in and of themselves, but also they can have demonstrable antiquity, even longer than that of written histories. For example, the Aboriginal Ngarrindjeni people have a Dreaming story of seawaters' rising and cutting off land from the mainland, creating the island now known as Kangaro Island, an event that in fact occurred around 8,000 years ago, according to the scientific record.
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