Anthropology
Related: About this forumAncient Underwater Aboriginal Sites Discovered off Australian Coast
Ancient Underwater Aboriginal Sites Discovered off Australian Coast
The first underwater Aboriginal archaeological sites have been discovered off northwest Australia dating back thousands of years ago when the current seabed was dry land.
The discoveries were made through a series of archaeological and geophysical surveys in the Dampier Archipelago, as part of the Deep History of Sea Country Project, funded through the Australian Research Councils Discovery Project Scheme.
The Aboriginal artefacts discovered off the Plibara coast in Western Australia represent Australias oldest known underwater archaeology.
An international team of archaeologists from Flinders University, The University of Western Australia, James Cook University, ARA Airborne Research Australia and the University of York (United Kingdom) partnered with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation to locate and investigate ancient artefacts at two underwater sites which have yielded hundreds of stone tools made by Aboriginal peoples, including grinding stones.
. . .
The dive team mapped 269 artefacts at Cape Bruguieres in shallow water at depths down to 2.4 metres below modern sea level. Radiocarbon dating and analysis of sea-level changes show the site is at least 7000 years old.
The second site at Flying Foam Passage includes an underwater freshwater spring 14 metres below sea level. This site is estimated to be at least 8500 years old. Both sites may be much older as the dates represent minimum ages only; they may be even more ancient.
More:
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2020/07/ancient-underwater-aboriginal-sites-discovered-off-australian-coast/134050
denem
(11,045 posts)Judi Lynn
(162,361 posts)For most of the human history of Australia, sea levels were much lower than they are today, and there was extra dry land where people lived.
Archaeologists could only speculate about how people used those now-submerged lands, and whether any traces remain today.
But in a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, we report the first submerged ancient Aboriginal archaeological sites found on the seabed, in waters off Western Australia.
THE GREAT FLOOD When people first arrived in Australia as early as 65,000 years ago, sea levels were around 80m lower than today.
Sea levels fluctuated but continued to fall as the global climate cooled. As the world plunged into the last ice age, which peaked around 20,000 years ago, sea levels dropped to 130m lower than they are now.
More:
https://www.inverse.com/science/ancient-aboriginal-archaeological-site
tirebiter
(2,584 posts)Well it's too bad that our friends, can't be with us today
Well it's too bad
The machine, that we built,
Would never save us', that's what they say
(That's why they ain't coming with us today)
And they also said it's impossible for a man to live and breathe under
Water, forever,
Was their main complaint
And they also threw this in my face, they said:
Anyway, you know good and well it would be beyond the will of God,
And the grace of the King (grace of the King)
(Yeah, yeah)