Early Discovery

[fever2]

goldierocks:
" in the 1860s. this resulted in them driving a tunnel into the hill (I used to go in it as a kid)"
Yeah maybe. But dunno.
The Aboriginal language stuff is consistent with gold-mining about 800 years ago. The skull from Bourke with sword-cut is dated to 1200s by Canberra uni. For example , the local Chinese goldminers made a temple in 1850-60s and it's been shifted to the museum. They were mining for only a few years but the memory continues.

 

[user 4386]

goldierocks:
" in the 1860s. this resulted in them driving a tunnel into the hill (I used to go in it as a kid)"
Yeah maybe. But dunno.
The Aboriginal language stuff is consistent with gold-mining about 800 years ago. The skull from Bourke with sword-cut is dated to 1200s by Canberra uni. For example , the local Chinese goldminers made a temple in 1850-60s and it's been shifted to the museum. They were mining for only a few years but the memory continues.

Ummm - I meant that I have read all the reports on the history of the Diamond Creek mine, it was not just a suggestion. The tunnel is still there and I have a sample from it in my office.

There is no direct evidence of pre-European mining, but it is conceivable in northern Australia, as Asians traded with aboriginals long before Europeans came. Aboriginals did collect gold nuggets and carry them long distances from their source (I know of two examples in Victoria, Watchem and Lake Boort) - but there is no evidence of them mining.

Have you ever seen a wound from a stone axe?

The Chinese were mining in Victoria from about 1851, and built many temples, one survives in Ballarat. And not only for a few years - they are still mining here

 

[fever2]

Stone axe. The skull fracture is 150mm long and a stone blade would need to be at least that length in straight edge. Examples of such axes can be found on the net showing the volume of stone needed to hold together under shock. The Kaakutja bone is sliced flat along the inner plate of the skull which is 5mm depth and about 20mm across. The geometry means a very steep cutting angle by the stone edge, almost a blunt force. Surgical chisels thicker than 2mm cause random , cracked damage . The fracture can be seen at [Kaakutja skull] in Images with left and right side views. Do you have images of stone axe trauma?

When Chinese stop mining in any area , there is still a memory about it 150 years after . If they happened to be the only people who dug holes to collect yellow sand and no-one else had clothes , metal tools or wheel barrows then the impact would be more so.

 

[grubstake]

More info here:
Kaakutja, Perhaps the First Known Boomerang Victim: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/science/first-boomerang-victim-australia.html

 

[fever2]

Catalyst: Toorale Man murder mystery - ABC TV Science

Apr 7, 2015 -. .... Bizarrely, the skull wounds on Toorale Man appear similar to those on gladiators in Imperial Rome.

The death of Kaakutja: a case of peri-mortem weapon trauma ...Cambridge 'Antiquity'
Sep 15, 2016 - The nature of the trauma to Kaakutja's skeletal remains suggests that ..... most closely resembles that produced by an African 'Samburu' sword.

So the author did a test of mulga boomerang on pig-skull . A comment on the test reported : "I have received the following comment from the writer: " The aim of the experiments were to determine whether traditional Aboriginal weapons could have caused trauma similar to that of the Toorale skull. Unfortunately our methods did not produce trauma,.".
School of Archaeology and Anthropology
ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences. "

Steel 1 , Boomerang 0.