Nyiyaparli Traditional Owners from the Pilbara region of Western Australia recently announced the dates for the oldest occupation ever found in the area.
Oldest known occupation in the Pilbara
The Nyiyaparli Heritage Sub-Committee and Karlka Nyiyaparli Aboriginal Corporation working with archaeologists from the heritage company Archae-aus evaluated a rock shelter in the area as part of a larger survey. The samples of charcoal retrieved along with artefacts were analysed using carbon-dating techniques and returned a date that amazed the archaeologists – the layer of occupation was 41,230 calendar years old (ka).