00:00Music
00:05Deep in the heart of the Western Australian outback,
00:08with every step, traditional owner Birchall Hayes
00:11is edging a little closer to the ground his ancestors walked 50,000 years ago.
00:17Oh, right.
00:19It's the first time he's walked down to the newly unearthed bedrock at Jugangor.
00:28Where archaeologists have found artefacts dating back up to 50,000 years.
00:33This tool here, you can see the cutting edge on here.
00:36A direct link to the past.
00:39It is really, really amazing that I'm able to stand up here
00:43and talk about this artefact that was created by my ancestors and to hold it.
00:52An archaeological excavation of the remote rock shelter
00:55has uncovered a trove of priceless artefacts.
00:59This is one of the most important sites in Australian archaeology.
01:03Lead archaeologist Michael Slack and his team
01:05have been digging into the history of the land and its people.
01:09So you've got artefacts out of here?
01:10Yeah, along pretty much where your hand was.
01:12Unlike most sites in Australia where you can trace back Aboriginal occupation of this site
01:17consistently for over 50,000 years.
01:25The dig of extraordinary cultural and scientific significance.
01:29Your feet are on ground that's 48,000 years old.
01:32Over there, it goes beyond 50.
01:35That's where the guys are digging right now,
01:36is getting down onto that level that's amongst the oldest sites in Australia.
01:40The preservation and the protection that this rock shelter provided,
01:46our ancestors and all the artefacts that they've imported into here,
01:53just strengthens our story around and about the connection to this place.
02:02That connection detonated when Rio Tinto destroyed the Djugan Rock Shelter
02:06in a legally sanctioned blast in 2020, permanently scarring the desert landscape.
02:12This used to be a huge cave, but all that remains now is the Western Wall,
02:17which previously extended all the way around us,
02:20and the ceiling was as high as the dome.
02:23To get to where we are today, it has helped us to heal together,
02:31which can never take back what happened.
02:36While it was a devastating event for us,
02:38we want to see some good come out of such a devastating event.
02:43So this is different, right?
02:45On site, the discoveries keep coming.
02:48Shell fragments revealing trading routes from the coast,
02:51just 350 kilometres away, paper bark bedding remnants,
02:55and incredible cutting tools.
02:57This kangaroo poo in spinifex resin as a handle.
03:02This is incredibly rare to find them like this.
03:04Archaeologists believe this is one of the most complete
03:07and extensive excavations of a rock shelter anywhere in the world.
03:13Anything of interest is taken above ground and sifted.
03:18Sluiced.
03:18So all of the stuff starts floating to the top.
03:21It's one of the few sites in the arid zone of Australia
03:24where we actually have like a really intact plant record
03:28for what people were eating.
03:31And sorted.
03:33Revealing clues about ancient diets.
03:36They found some kind of animal, killed it and cooked it up.
03:38And this is what's left over.
03:40Some 50,000 artefacts, building a detailed picture
03:44of how people lived here over time.
03:46Over the back there, 10 metres away, is where people were sleeping.
03:50The front of this excavation area here
03:52was covered in flakestone artefacts
03:54where people were making and maintaining tools.
03:56So we can see different areas of the site
03:58and through time as well, which is very unique.
04:01Traditional owners have embarked on an ambitious project
04:04to reconstruct the rock shelter over the remains of the original.
04:08Taking inspiration from the famous prehistoric Lascaux
04:11and Chauvet caves in France,
04:14which have been recreated to scale
04:15for the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit each year.
04:19When we finish here, even though they put the replica up,
04:22we still want to always come back here
04:24and bring our young people back here as well.
04:30Emerging from the rubble of a cultural tragedy,
04:32a silver lining for future generations.
04:38For more information,
04:39after the growing population,
04:39Even with the working population,
04:39there are people who have been in this world
04:39who have been in this world where people who live in some of them
04:39have been in this world where people move on.
04:40There are people who are actually in this world
04:41for who live in the живон,
04:41and they are actually in this world where people move on.
04:41You
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