Photo from Thierry Meier, UnSplash
Brendan Rascius
Thu, June 22, 2023
A series of stone tools lay undisturbed under the ocean for thousands of years — until now.
The tools, which were fashioned by ancient indigenous people, were recently discovered off the coast of Australia, according to researchers and news reports.
The artifacts had been preserved under about 50 feet of water near an archipelago off the country’s west coast, according to a June 21 news release from Flinders University.
Divers hauled the collection, consisting of five sharpened tools, to the surface, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Dating back at least 9,000 years, the objects are believed to be the oldest marine archaeological finding in Australian history, according to the outlet. The tools were likely used by ancient Aboriginal people to slice and skin animals.
The area where the tools were found was above sea level thousands of years ago and was once the site of a freshwater spring, according to the Australian Associated Press.
Ancient inhabitants of Australia likely discarded the tools in the spring, according to the outlet.
The findings “present compelling evidence of the inventiveness and resourcefulness of generation after generation of Aboriginal people,” Jonathan Benjamin, one of the researchers involved in the discovery, said in the university news release.
The tools also “present a more complete picture of one of the world’s oldest known continuing cultures,” university officials said.
Aboriginal people have lived in Australia for over 50,000 years, making them the world’s longest-lasting, continuously surviving culture, according to the Australian government.
Soon after the European conquest of the continent in the 18th century, the Aboriginal population began declining rapidly as a result of violence and disease, according to a 2020 study published in the journal Population, Space and Place. In recent years, their population has increased, growing from 517,000 to 798,000 between 2006 and 2016.
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