7,000-Year-Old Quarry Examined in South Australia

ADELAIDE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA—Stone quarrying at Sugarloaf Hill in southeastern Australia’s Riverland dates back some 7,000 years, according to a statement released by Flinders University. Researchers from Flinders University and the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation said that chert and silcrete were extracted from the quarry to make tools and weapons that were likely redistributed beyond the Riverland. “The key outcome from our research has been establishing a plausible timeline for the mining of these materials at Sugarloaf Hill,” said Craig Westell of Flinders University. This timeline will help researchers to understand Aboriginal networks in the southwestern region of the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia’s largest river system. The chronology will also allow researchers to compare quarrying activity at Sugarloaf Hill with that of other ancient stone quarries in Australia. “This timeline demonstrates both the deep time and long-term connections that our ancestors have maintained with all aspects of our riverscape,” explained Sheryl Giles of the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Archaeology in Oceania. For more on the archaeology of southern Australia, go to "Enduring Ice Age Ritual," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2024.