Mapping of Crucial Archaeological Terrain, Inhabited by Indigenous Australians Over 60,000 Years Ago, Conducted by Archaeologists

Scientists at Flinders University used subsurface imaging and aerial surveys to see through the floodplains of Red Lily Lagoon in West Arnhem Land in northern Australia.

These groundbreaking methods showed how this important landscape in the Northern Territory was changed as sea levels rose around 8,000 years ago.

Their discovery shows that the ocean has reached this now inland region, which has important implications for understanding the archaeological record of Magdibi – the oldest archaeological site in Australia.

The findings also provide a new way of understanding rock art in the region, which is recognized worldwide for its importance and distinctive style.

By studying how sediments now buried beneath the floodplain changed with sea level rise, researchers can see how the transformation of the Red Lily Lagoon led to the growth of mangroves that supported animal and marine life in an area where there was ancient Aboriginal rock art. Located. This shift, in turn, fostered an environment that inspired the themes and animals in ancient rock art.

In their findings published in the scientific journal Plus one Today, researchers say environmental changes in the lake are reflected in the rock art because fish, crocodiles and birds appeared in the art when floodplains were transformed to support freshwater habitats for new species.

Senior author and research assistant in the School of Humanities, Art and Social Sciences of Flinders University, Dr. Jarad Nulsar, says cartography is fundamentally changing our archaeological understanding of the picturesque landscapes of Arnhem Land.

“This is a key landscape for understanding early human occupation of Australia. Reconstructing the Red Lily Lagoon enables efficient predictive modeling of notable cultural sites and provides an important method for interpreting the presence and origin of Aboriginal cultural materials.”

“The timing of the rock art is consistent with the broader environmental changes that we understand have occurred in this landscape. This is evidenced by changes in the subject matter of the art, such as large macropods, and the appearance of estuarine animal species such as fish and crocodiles in the art. The inclusion of freshwater species, such as fish and birds, it occurs in the most recent artistic styles of this region, and this reflects the stages of environmental change when freshwater plains were shaping the landscape.”

“Based on the results of this study, all Pleistocene sites in western Arnhem Land were near the ocean and, therefore, were mangrove swamps at some point during the landscape transformation. This has important implications for the ancient geographic settings of these sites, which must be taken into account. When interpreting changes in stone artefacts, nutritional resources, and isotopic compositions of materials from this period of early Australians.”

Co-author, Associate Professor Ian Moffat, says electrical resistance tomography (ERT) is a fast, low-cost, non-invasive method that can map large areas of the Australian landscape to better understand its ancient history.

“We show how ERT data can be used to develop landscape models that are useful when it comes to understanding known sites as well as predicting buried archaeological sites. We have shown that the landscape of this region can be effectively mapped using non-invasive methods. This has important implications for to identify new sites but also to develop a more nuanced understanding of regional geography, and its influence on past human behaviour.”

The Red Lily Lagoon is of exceptional archaeological importance in Arnhem Land as it lies at one of the easternmost points of the East Crocodile River floodplain, where the modern river, the Arnhem Plateau, forms an important boundary between the low-lying floodplain and sandstone uplands occupied by humans for more than 60,000 years. It is the site of countless sites of interest, including some of Australia’s most famous rock art.”

Traditional owner and co-author Alfred Naingol described the importance of this research as, “We want people to see and know what was happening thousands of years in the past.”