Last night there were several TV news stories about a find of
aboriginal artefacts and rock art at Jinmium, in Australia's
Northern Territory, near its norder with Western Australia.
The artefacts (stone tools) looked fairly unsophisticated (similar to
Acheulean scrapers in my anthropology texts) and the rock art
difficult to see clearly. No details were given about what the art
was supposed to represent.
The stone tools were thought to be between 75K and 116K
years old and the art between 58K and 75K years old. No details were
given of how the dates were derived.
The anthroplogists themselves pointed out their claims will be
controversial.
On thing I found strange was the claim that this doubled the time of
the Aboriginal occupation of Australia. There is evidence that
non-aboriginals from Indonesia made elaborate rock art in the same
area: see Smith R., "Rocking the Foundations", Time, December 11,
1996, p66-67. Time will tell.
Here is a press clipping from our local Sunday newspaper. There
have been more since and I can post them if Reflectorites are
interested.
God bless.
Steve
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New clues in NW to first Aborigines
SYDNEY: Ancient stone artefacts found in the eastern Kimberley
this week will stir debate about human life on the planet.
A geo-scientist involved in the discovery, Dr Lesley Head, said all the
new evidence indicated that the Aboriginal occupation of Australia
was almost double previous estimates of 60,000 years.
The artefacts are believed to be 116,000 years old.
The discovery is going to stimulate a hole lot of new questions." said
Dr Head.
All of us involved in the project are very excited but there's a degree
of caution because the results are just to different from our present
understanding.
We expect our findings will be thoroughly scrutinised and people will
have most problems with the concept that Aborigines have been here
for 116,000 years.
"It's just so much longer than previously thought".
Archaeologists from the Australian Museum and geo-scientists from
the University of Wollongong released details of their historic
findings at Jinmium, east of Kununurra near the border of WA and
the NT.
Dr Head said the site also revealed rock art believed to be 75,000
years old.
The area was originally studied as part of research into land use by
local Aborigines.
Sediment samples taken from the Jinmium site during the four-year
project were dated at Wollongong University.
The engravings were dated as being between 58,000 and 75,000
years old and the sediment in which the artefacts where discovered
dated to more than 116,000 years old.
Previously, the oldest reliably dated rock art was a 32,000-year-old
cave painting in France.
Most scientists theorise that modern man did not exist until about
100,000 years
ago.
The Jinmium dig unearthed chips and flakes of stone as well as
pounding tools.
("New clues in NW to first Aborigines", Sunday Times:
Perth, Western Australia, 12 September 1996, pp1-2)
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| Stephen E (Steve) Jones ,--_|\ sejones@ibm.net |
| 3 Hawker Avenue / Oz \ Steve.Jones@health.wa.gov.au |
| Warwick 6024 ->*_,--\_/ Phone +61 9 448 7439 (These are |
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