You just never know what you will find, or where you will find it. What is the connection between the Mitchell Plateau and Homo Floresiensis, or “The Hobbit”?
We spent last night with a ranger, who has been in the Kimberley for 30 years, and at the Mitchell Plateau since it was gazetted a national park. He has a specific interest in the anthropological history of the area. Specifically, he is looking at the artwork to discover particular periods of occupation of the area, and to tie that in with other archaeological techniques to provide further information and to aid with dating.
He has identified three quite distinct periods of occupation. What he calls the “archaeological” period, which is up to hundreds of thousands of years perhaps, the “Bradshaw” or “Gwion” period, which seems to end perhaps at an ice age around 17000 years ago, and more contemporary occupation, from 1800 years ago.
And he is no interested amateur. He has connections in very high scientific places and that is where Homo Floresiensis comes in. The archaeologists involved in the dig on Flores, in Indonesia, have also come to the Kimberley and conducted digs in an attempt to identify a link perhaps with occupation from Indonesia. They have been dating charcoal from middens to identify distinct periods of occupation, but also using more creative methods. To identify the age of a piece of artwork they dated a wasp nest built over the artwork. That was placed at 1200 years, meaning the artwork was at least that old. By identifying the style and ochres used that aids in dating all sorts of other sites.
They are also using a new dating technique, something to do with illuminance spectroscopy. There were no real details given, but apparently they have a technique for determining how long and object has been obscured from light. This is very useful in aging midden mounds by dating the sediments used to make them up. It can also date rock falls and other such geological events. He claims to be able to get to individual years in hundreds of thousands of years timescale. If it is true, then it is indeed a powerful tool.It also correlates well with radio carbon dating, which runs out of puff at around 10000 years, and so can be used to corroborate other evidence.
He hopes to be able to get to Indonesia to participate in digs there, and perhaps twig some correlation that may help tie the whole story together. He showed a commercial video, made in conjunction with the ABC, about the whole “Hobbit” controversy, the implications of a hominid only 17000 years old, but with a much older brain structure, perhaps 700000 years old, and questioning the development of modern humans in Africa, perhaps indicating a more broad Asian Savannah origin. But the real juice of the story comes from the possibility that given the timescales and geographic proximity, the Kimberley might hold a real key in changing our view of the origins of humans.
Other points in his presentation (he waxed lyrical for two hours, and would easily have kept going till midnight he said). He showed some footage of the nesting of the Black Grass Wren. It nests in the wet season, when the park is closed and access difficult. That was really a vehicle for showing us the Mitchell area in the wet, and vastly different it is too. He also gave us some rundown on the white history of the area, with grazing and, more importantly, mineral leases. Even though this is a national park, there are still two mining leases current in the area. It was shown some time ago that exploiting the bauxite in the area is not economically viable. However, with the development of the North-west Shelf gas and Timor oil, the cost of energy up here could tip that balance. In favour of the park though is the fact that a competing minerals company has given up leases on surrounding areas, so it is hoped that Rio Tinto will do the same. There is some pressure on from government for the issue to be decided this year.
The last point explained why the helicopters are allowed to work out of the camping ground. Apparently they were here first, and getting rid of them is not so simple. They are being managed into less sensitive areas though.
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