The discovery of a massive cache of indigenous artifacts during the construction of a new light rail line in Sydney, Australia has led experts to call for a halt to the project while the spearheads, cutting tools. and other relics are recovered from the excavation site.
According to the Daily Mail and the Sydney Morning Herald, approximately 20,000 items have already been recovered from the site, which was to be used to store rail vehicles known as trams, and heritage experts working at the location believe there may be tens of thousands more.
Some of the more than 20,000 artifacts found at the yard. Photo: Tocomwall
The tram yard, which is being built in the Sydney suburb of Sydney, includes some artifacts that do not appear to be from the area, Scott Franks, director of archaeological consultant Tocomwall, told reporters. Items made using fine cryptocrystalline stone, which is not found around Sydney, suggests the existence of a trading route with residents of the Hunter Valley, he added.
“This site is the most significant in Sydney,” Franks told the Daily Mail, adding that he and his colleagues were “astonished” by the number of relics they discovered in a relatively small area. His group, as well as Aboriginal organizations and local government officials, are calling for the project to be temporarily halted in light of the find.
Experts think there could be more than 50,000 artifacts at the site. Credit: Tocomwall
Experts calling for construction to halt for further research
Franks and his associates are calling for more archaeological work to be completed to better understand the significance of the discovery, but the Sydney Morning Herald said that officials have not yet said whether or not they would comply with the request and pause the project.
“Archaeological work undertaken in late 2015 and January 2016 identified a high density of Aboriginal artifacts on a specific section of the Randwick Stabling Yard site,” a spokesman at Transport for New South Wales told the newspaper. They added that they “investigating” the matter, adding that all work at the site had been supervised by Aboriginal groups.
Jakub Czastka, a senior archeologist at Tocomwall, told reporters that the fact that more than 20,000 artifacts were discovered in an area just over 100 square meters in size was indicative of an Aboriginal ceremonial meeting place. “I would suggest quite strongly that this site is of state significance,” he said – comments that were echoed by Frank in a separate interview.
Greens MP David Shoebridge told the Herald that it was “downright criminal that what may well be one of the most important recent heritage finds is being literally torn up without even the most rudimentary consideration” of stopping work. He also told the Daily Mail that it was likely that thousands of artifacts had already been damaged or destroyed by machinery at the site.
“Those artifacts that have been recovered have already lost their connection with place and with that a good deal of their cultural significance,” he told the UK publication. “If this was the center of Athens or Paris and a heritage find of this significance occurred then there is no doubt the work would stopped to see how the site could be saved, but in Sydney… the bulldozers aren’t even stopped for a day.”
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Image credit: Christopher Pearce
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