Archeology|A completely legal explosion by a mining company destroyed an important excavation site in Australia.
New the study details information about the aborigines’ settlement in the Juukani cave in Western Australia about 47,000 years ago.
The study was published Quaternary Science Reviews – in the science journal. Researchers write about it The Conversation on the site.
The historically significant site covered in the study was destroyed in 2020, when the mining company Rio Tinto carried out a licensed explosion in the area for the expansion of an iron mine.
Research according to, among other things, radiocarbon dating and DNA samples from the remains show that the aborigines inhabited the area of the Juukani cave as early as 47,000 years ago.
Tools used by the aboriginals of that time, such as blunt bone objects and grinding stones, have been found in the area.
In addition, a strand of human hair has been obtained from the area for analysis. Its age is estimated to be around 3,500 years.
A DNA test done on the hair showed that the bearer was probably related to the aborigines involved in the excavations.
Juukan the cave is located in the Puutu Kunti Kurrama area in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The study deals with one of the cave-like recesses in the rock wall, Juukan 2.
The researchers say that they have found thousands of researchable pieces there. Many of them used a substance obtained from a grass called spinifex, which has been used as an adhesive.
Along with the objects, the researchers have found indications of animals. They show that the inhabitants of the cave ate hedgehogs, emus and kangaroos.
The oldest tool made of kangaroo bone was estimated to be around 30,000 years old.
A mining company Rio Tinto had been granted permission for blasting in the area in 2013 and they were carried out in 2020. Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABC and a British magazine The Guardian.
The permit was based on Western Australia’s old Aboriginal Heritage Act. The law drawn up in 1972 favored mining.
In 2014, the archeological excavations tried to save what they could. At the same time, it became clear that the settlement of the place was more than twice as old as originally thought.
Outdated legislation did not allow consent to be renegotiated based on new information.
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