An Ancient Heritage
Non-Aboriginal people have come to this country and found used pieces of ochre, stone tools and charcoal from cooking fires. They say that Aboriginal people first lived here 20 000 years ago. More recently, this date was changed to 50 000 years ago ... and it may change again. However, Aboriginal people know that they have lived in this country since it was created.
-Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre
Many of the rock paintings in Kakadu depict animals that are now extinct on the Australian mainland. For example, the long-beaked echidna is thought to have disappeared about 15 000 years ago, while the thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) and the Tasmanian devil are thought to have disappeared from the mainland about 2000 to 3000 years ago (Chaloupka 1993).
Archaeologists have found an extensive range of Aboriginal artefacts at old camping sites throughout the Park, particularly in the escarpment and floodplain country. Radiocarbon dating of material from some of these sites has revealed an occupation date of between 20 000 and 25 000 years. There were, however, artefacts below the last layer of carbon-bearing sands, indicating that humans were in Kakadu earlier than this.
Thermoluminescence dating of sand associated with artefacts from lower levels, puts the occupation date of Kakadu at 50 000 to 60 000 years before the present, making these the oldest occupation sites discovered in Australia. Among the artefacts associated with the sites are flaked-stone tools, ground ochre and grindstones.
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