Riverland quarry reveals 7000 years of Aboriginal mining
Researchers working with Traditional Owners in South Australia’s Riverland have identified a 7000-year chronology of Aboriginal stone mining at Sugarloaf Hill, offering new insight into the scale, continuity and significance of quarrying in the Murray River corridor.
The findings mark the first detailed investigation of an Aboriginal chert and silcrete quarry in the region.
Key Points
- Evidence indicates 7000 years of Aboriginal mining at Sugarloaf Hill
- Study is first detailed investigation of a Riverland chert and silcrete quarry
- Materials used for tools, weapons and trade beyond the Riverland region
- Site sits within Murray River corridor between Berribee and Overland Corner
- Sugarloaf Hill is extensive but under-emphasised in historical literature
- Research published in Archaeology in Oceania with full author list
- Team plans comparative studies of other Riverland quarries and timelines
Flinders University researchers, in partnership with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation, report evidence pointing to Aboriginal mining of stones at the site in South Australia’s Riverland.
The dating forms part of a broader effort to establish a clear timeline for quarry activity in an area long known for its hard, fine-grained rocks. Chert and silcrete from this landscape were mined by Aboriginal people to craft tools and weapons and for trade, with Riverland-sourced materials likely redistributed beyond the immediate area.
“The key outcome from our research has been establishing a plausible timeline for the mining of these materials at Sugarloaf Hill,” lead researcher Dr Craig Westell, from Flinders University, said.
“We believe similar outcomes can be achieved in the Riverland through further integration of ethnohistorical, archaeological and contemporary community views.”
The timing and nature of exchange in fine-grain siliceous materials sourced from the Riverland quarries may contribute to an ever more nuanced appreciation of the many entangled aspects of Aboriginal society and economies in the southwestern region of the Murray Darling Basin.
This new chronology also allows comparison to stone quarries elsewhere in Australia.
The team will conduct further research to compare other Riverland quarries and determine whether this timeline is representative of the use of Riverland stone sources more generally.
“The relationships that Aboriginal people share with their ancestors, the river and land shaped connections and responsibilities to country and ultimately systems of traditional land ownership, co-author Professor Amy Roberts, Deputy Director of the ARC Centre for Transforming Human Origins Research at Flinders University. said.
“Stone quarries are an essential part of this inheritance.”
“This timeline demonstrates both the deep time and long-term connections that our ancestors have maintained with all aspects of our riverscape,” Sheryl Giles, a spokesperson for the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation, added.
The research – “7000 Years of Aboriginal Mining at Sugarloaf Hill in the Riverland Region of South Australia”, by Craig Westell, Ian Moffat, Richard Fullagar, Amy Roberts, Justine Kemp, Mike Morley, Marc Fairhead and Simon Hoad – has been published in Archaeology in Oceania.
