DWELLING DATED TO 50,000 YEARS

GEOFF VIVIAN

A rock shelter near Paraburdoo is now confirmed to be among the oldest five or six habitation sites in Australia.

Archaeologist Fiona Hook did her first dig at Wirra Cave about 20 years ago with traditional owners and her late husband Dr Bruce Veitch.

They were able to confirm it had been occupied during the last Ice Age 23,000 years ago, but there were older layers of soil containing artefacts they were unable to date.

After a new excavation last October they have used new technology to prove people were making stone tools at the site 50,000 years ago.

“We’ve got optically stimulated luminescence dates at 50,000 years that are associated with flake stone tools, little cutting tools plus the debris from making them,” Ms Hook said.

She said there were even older strata containing artefacts that they were still dating in her laboratory.

“We now know that the deposit was laid down in layers through time so there’s hardly any disturbance in the site at all,” Ms Hook said.

“And we’ve got different artefacts that changed through time in the site with different raw materials being used.”

Wirra Cave is an important site on Yinhawangka country.