Archaeologists working at the Juukan Gorge site, located in Western Australia and destroyed by the Rio Tinto company in 2020, unearthed several important objects, including a tooth from a Tasmanian devil, a species that disappeared on the Australian continent in 3,000 years ago, informs reuters.com, according to Agerpres.
PKKP Aboriginal Corporation archaeologists. PHOTO nit.com.au
Once one of the largest carnivorous marsupials in the world, the Tasmanian devil disappeared as a species from mainland Australia around 3,500 years ago.
The excavations, carried out as part of a remedial agreement concluded between the mining company and the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (PKKP) communities, reveal new information about the history of human life during the last Ice Age, for at least 46,000 years, he said on Tuesday in a press release PKKP Aboriginal Corporation.
“This place is a very special and important one”
The current findings complement those from excavations carried out between 2008 and 2014 which included a braided strand of human hair dating back around 5,000 years and revealing a genetic link to Aboriginal people living in the Pilbara today.
“The fact that we have a collection of such objects all from one small part of the planned excavations proves what the PKKP population has always said – this place is a very special and important one”said excavation director Michael Slack of Scarp Archaeology.
The destruction of the Juukan Gorge archaeological site four years ago sparked global outrage, resignations of Rio Tinto executives and an overhaul of Australian heritage laws.
