CAPE YORK, AUSTRALIA—SBS News Australia reports that 82 pieces of pottery estimated to be between 3,000 and 2,000 years old have been discovered on Jiigurru, or Lizard Island, which is located off the coast of northern Australia’s Cape York Peninsula. Geologic analysis of the materials used to produce the pottery indicates that it was most likely made from local materials. This is the oldest securely dated pottery found in Australia, according to Sean Ulm of James Cook University. “This find clearly demonstrates that Aboriginal people not only knew about pottery, but were indeed making it on their countries,” he said. “And the fact that we’ve found it at this site suggests that further research will find more instances of pottery elsewhere in Australia, particularly the east coast of Cape York,” he added. The discovery of pottery on Lizard Island also connects the first Australians to the exchange networks and alliance systems of ocean-faring people in Papua New Guinea, the Torres Strait, and the Pacific Islands. Kenneth McLean of the Walmbaar Aboriginal Corporation and the Dingaal clan explained that his ancestors probably used pottery to carry water and shellfish on long canoe voyages. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Quaternary Science Reviews. To read about Aboriginal rock art in West Arnhem Land, go to "Letter from Australia: Where the World Was Born."
