CRAWLEY, AUSTRALIA—Dates obtained from charcoal associated with stone artifacts at the Yalibirri Mindi rock shelter in the Mid-West region of Western Australia indicate that the ancestors of the Wajarri Traditional Owners and other cultural groups have lived in the area for 30,000 years. “The history of Aboriginal occupation to the north in the Pilbara, south at places like Devil’s Lair and to the east in the Western Desert has been well established for many years but the handful of excavated sites in the Mid-West are all relatively young,” Viviene Brown of The University of Western Australia said in a press release. “This new date from Yalibirri Mindi rock shelter pushes regional occupation by 20,000 years and is enormously important for the archaeological community,” she added. For more on Australian archaeology, see "The Rock Art of Djulirri."
