CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA—Students from Australian National University (ANU) are digging on Springbank Island in Lake Burley Griffin for evidence of Canberrra’s first European homestead and an Indigenous meeting place. The island was formed in 1963, when the lake was created and fill was dumped over the site. So far, they have recovered some nineteenth-century artifacts, and ground-penetrating radar suggests a possible foundation that could belong to the homestead. “I have been told by traditional custodians that this was a big meeting place for Indigenous people in the area. This is evident through archaeology with a good number of stone flakes and cores turning up in the sieve,” project leader Duncan Wright said in a press release. The team may even find evidence of contact between the Indigenous people and the Europeans. “Strangely in the [Australian Capital Territory] and surrounding regions it’s really hard to find any signs of that type of contact but we’re keeping our fingers crossed,” he said. For more on Australian archaeology, see "The Rock Art of Malarrak."
