Extract from ABC News
Yinika Perston is an archaeologist specialising in interpreting stone artefact technologies. (Supplied: Griffith University)
In short:
Aboriginal artefacts dating back about 170 years have been discovered in North West Queensland.
The discovery holds the second-largest amount of tools in one site, with about 60 "tulas" found.
What's next?
Local Pitta Pitta people say the discovery is exciting for their country's history.
About 60 Aboriginal artefacts dating back 170 years have been excavated in the outback after being discovered peeking through the red dirt on the land of the Min Min lights.
It is only the second time a bundle of historical tools this size has been found in Australia.
The first was found in 1988, also on Pitta Pitta country, about 300 kilometres south of Mount Isa in North West Queensland.
Griffith University archaeologist and research fellow Yinika Perston said the cluster of nationally significant artefacts contained flaked stone tools called tulas, hafted onto a handle and used for woodworking.
Tulas were used across most of the continent to make traditional objects including boomerangs, coolamon dishes, shields and clapsticks.
Dr Perston's colleagues first saw a glimpse of the artefacts while working at a nearby billabong, when they stumbled across a small cluster protruding from the soil.
"As soon as they saw it, they knew it was something special,"she said.
"We could tell they were stone tools that someone had made there and, because they were all clustered together, we thought maybe it might be a deliberately buried bundle of tools.
"Even though these tools are found and used pretty much all over Australia, it just so happens that that other bundle is only 7 kilometres away from where we found this one."
Dr Perston said the tulas were likely made by local Pitta Pitta people for trading, and the archaeologists realised they had stumbled upon a hefty treasure chest.
The tulas were found outside Boulia, 300 kilometres south of Mount Isa, in outback Queensland. (Supplied: Griffith University)
"Innovation and connection helped the Pitta Pitta people survive the region's harsh climates," she said.
"If they could not find resources locally, they bartered along vast trade routes.
"The tools in this case are approximately 170 years old [but] there's a bit of a margin of error in that. It is probably somewhere between 1793 and 1913."
Yinika Perston says it is rare to find 60 tulas buried in one location. (Supplied: Griffith University)
By using a scientific dating technique called optically stimulated luminescence, the researchers determined the last time grains of quartz within the dig site saw the sun was about 170 years ago.
"[Tulas] were still used quite a lot during the contact era. There's lots of photos of people using them, there's written record accounts of people using them," Dr Perston said.
Filling the 'missing gaps'
Pitta Pitta woman Trevina Rogers travels across her country in the Boulia region, teetering on the edge of the vast Simpson Desert, searching for the hidden knowledge of her ancestors.
"It's a very exciting discovery," Ms Rogers said.
"It's what the ancestors had left behind. We didn't know what was there until we started removing all the soil and there were 60 tulas."
Trevina Rogers says the find is significant for Indigenous people in the region. (ABC News: Emily Dobson)
Ms Rogers has worked with the Griffith University archaeologists for some time, documenting and mapping the story of the Pitta Pitta peoples.
"It was my ancestors. That was very important [and] very exciting to see a whole case like that," she said.
Ms Rogers has been documenting her culture since she was a child, with this discovery continuing to fuel her passion.
The tulas are estimated to have been buried between 1793 and 1913. (Supplied: Griffith University)
"Passing the knowledge on … it's a lost art," she said.
"It will never end, it will never stop. I'll still be out on country, still looking, still finding new things, discovering things and seeing how things work.
"That's the only way to find out, to get out there, and you always find something new … just filling in the missing gaps everywhere."
Ms Rogers hopes the discovery will not only bring pride to Indigenous people in the North West, but to all locals.
Tulas are used to make objects such as boomerangs, coolamons, shields and clapsticks. (Supplied: Griffith University)
"People are interested in the history, and the knowledge, and passing on the knowledge. Talking about it and education is the key to everything," she said.
"[I'd like see the artefacts] in a case in Pitta Pitta, in Boulia, on display.
"It's just so empowering just to be there … I can't express it."
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