Ancient pottery fragments have been discovered on a Great Barrier Reef island that could change our understanding of Aboriginal history.
Scientists have uncovered 82 pieces of pottery on Jiigurru that are dated to between 3,000 and 1,800 years old.
Ancient Aboriginal people are known for technologies like fish traps, fire management and the bark canoe."Australia seemed to be the only continent in the world that never had a pottery tradition."Aboriginal archaeology researchers have long searched for ancient pottery along the Queensland coast. "There's something big happening in terms of community connections, alliances and exchange networks in north-eastern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago," Professor McNiven said."He goes on a holiday to Lizard Island, and walks around the intertidal zones, and he found pottery," Professor McNiven said."Everyone has been looking for pottery on the Queensland coast forever, none of us have ever found it.
Charcoal found within the midden allowed the team to radiocarbon date the oldest sherds to around 3,000 years old and the youngest to around 1,900 years old.The earliest seafaring ancestors of people living in South Pacific islands such as Vanuatu and Tonga arrived from Asia, DNA analysis reveals.
"I believe that's why these places were sacred because the ancestors were making these ancient technologies 2,000 years agoProfessor Glenn Summerhayes, a Lapita pottery expert at the University of Otago, confirmed there were subtle differences between the newly discovered sherds and Lapita pottery that had been found in the past in other areas.
Aboriginal History Lapita Pottery Lizard Island Archaeology
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