SUBMERGED WORLD BENEATH THE WAVES: ARCHAEOLOGY’S FINAL FRONTIER

Associate Professor Jonathan Benjamin

Article published on 13 November 2020

Suddenly, the boundaries of how we study Australian history dramatically changed with the discovery of ancient Aboriginal stone tools located on the Pilbara seabed.

Flinders maritime archaeologist Associate Professor Jonathan Benjamin led an international team who confirmed what scientists and Aboriginal communities had long believed: that ancient people historically occupied a far greater Australia than exists today. This is evidenced by underwater archaeological sites on the continental shelf where hundreds of artefacts were found settled on the seabed at two sites in Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago), which is renowned for its ancient rock engravings.

It represents an important first step towards unlocking the secrets of ancient coastal habitation. This is especially important, as 21% of Australia’s original land mass is now under water – an area larger than the state of Queensland. These submerged landscapes represent what is known as Sea Country by many Indigenous Australians, and Associate Professor Benjamin acknowledges the importance of working in collaboration with Indigenous communities.

The research published in scientific journal PLOS One, by The Deep History of Sea Country project team, confirms that archaeology can survive under water. Many Aboriginal Australians have oral traditions of the sea encroaching on ancient communities. “With a respectful approach and time to establish a trust, we have operated a two-way knowledge exchange between the archaeologists and the local communities,” says Associate Professor Benjamin, who was the lead investigator of the DHSC Project. “We draw on and value local expertise. Providing the tangible links to Sea Country can help empower those communities in terms of land and sea rights.”

The idea behind this major underwater archaeological discovery has burned within Californian-born Associate Professor Benjamin since he was a student. He was fascinated by the dramatic image of a diver emerging from the sea, holding an ancient antler. It featured on the cover of Danish research published by Anders Fischer, Man and Sea in the Mesolithic, and it inspired him to further investigate what the pioneer underwater archaeologists found in their own local areas. Associate Professor Benjamin realised the phenomenon of sea-level rise is global, so submerged archaeological evidence should be found in coastal and nearshore environments worldwide. This has major ramifications for studying human history and world archaeology.

There are only a few places in the world that have a well-known tradition for studying coastal prehistory below the current sea level, including Denmark, Israel and Florida. However, Associate Professor Benjamin’s PhD studies focused on the Adriatic Sea, and his subsequent work focused on the submerged prehistory of Europe, while based in Scotland.

In 2014, Associate Professor Benjamin came to Australia with an ambition to make a mark on maritime archaeology. “An enormous amount of the world’s earliest human history took place on land that is now under water,” Benjamin says. “It’s especially important to be studying this in Australia.”

The Deep History of Sea Country was a complex project, which occurred thanks to cooperative and cohesive teams. Flinders archaeologists worked closely with colleagues at University of Western Australia, James Cook University, Airborne Research Australia, the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark and University of York in the United Kingdom. The project was done in collaboration and with permission from the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation. Due to the challenges of planning and fieldwork in the marine environment, Associate Professor Benjamin says it was mix of excitement and relief when the two Flinders PhD students Chelsea Wiseman and John McCarthy made the initial dive where submerged artefacts were discovered.

“It is a life-changing experience for them and a positive disruption for Australian archaeology, because it confirms that there is so much more to be explored.”

The door has swung open wide for future underwater archaeology opportunities in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Associate Professor Benjamin is confident more remarkable sites exist in the sea.

Associate Professor Jonathan Benjamin

“We’ve gone from ‘potential’ to ‘proven’. This is timely because people increasingly recognise the significance and care about the remarkable Indigenous history of Australia. The first Australians came from southeast Asia at least 65,000 years ago and arrived on land that is now submerged. Those first landing sites are all under water. Future discoveries and increased attention to underwater archaeology could tell us much more about the history of how and when people first arrived in Australia. The lives of millions of people took place on these now-submerged lands.”

Australia’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Act currently provides automatic protection for shipwrecks older than 75 years in coastal and commonwealth waters, but does not automatically protect ancient Aboriginal sites, which can be protected by individual states or by the UCH Act with special ministerial approval. Associate Professor Benjamin believes the Murujuga discoveries will usher in significant change. “There is a real opportunity to review the policies and how we manage and protect cultural heritage, around the whole of Australia, both above and below the waterline.”

Associate Professor Benjamin is thrilled that future generations of maritime archaeologists are now poised to make more remarkable discoveries. “We stand on the shoulders of those who pioneered the discipline of examining the ancient past through scientific diving. Now archaeologists and earth scientists make up an interdisciplinary, technologically advanced version of submerged landscape studies that will make significant new contributions to what we know about the human past.”