Seeing inside an ancient Australian Indigenous artefact non-invasively

Calcrete block with embedded chert Photo: Ingrid Ward, University of WA

Nuclear techniques have allowed archaeologists to see into an embedded section of an ancient Australian Indigenous stone artefact non-invasively—suggesting important information about its origin and use.

ANSTO instrument scientist Floriana Salvemini used neutron tomography on Dingo to reconstruct high resolution images of an artefact that was found by archaeologists embedded in a limestone reef on Barrow Island, off the northwest coast of Western Australia.

The stone tool was made of chert, an ‘exotic lithic’ which is high in silica and not found on Barrow Island. This led researchers from the University of Western Australia to deduce that it had come from the mainland, possibly transported by early Australians.

Dating of sediments from an overlying dune on Barrow Island undertaken at the University of Oxford provided an age estimate of 41,000 ka (years before the present time) for the chert. [...] ANSTO / Link 2

Vídeo: 3D reconstruction of an ancient Indigenous Australian stone artefact - ANSTOVideos
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