Archaeologists unearth history in Australia

“I’m ecstatic, I’m over the moon, because it’s now indisputable,” Slim Parker, an elder of the Martidja Banyjima people, said.

“This area of land, in regard to our culture and customs and beliefs, is of great significance to us. We have songs and stories relating to that area as a sustaining resource that has provided for and cared for our people for thousands of years.”

The tools, along with seeds, bark and other plant material, were found nearly two meters beneath the floor of a rock shelter on the edges of an iron ore mine site in Australia’s remote northwest, about 950 kilometers northeast of Perth, the capital of Western Australia.

The excavation was carried out between October 07 and February 08 by archaeologists from Australian Cultural Heritage Management who were hired by the local Aborigines to find and preserve heritage sites within the mine area run by resource giant Rio Tinto.