The distribution of artefacts in the Tantangara area shows, again, there were repeated visits by families and small groups over an extended period of time, reflective of its harsher climate. Photo: Snowy 2.0.
An extraordinary archaeological dig across Snowy 2.0 project sites has shown just how much Aboriginal people relied on and thrived in the Snowy Mountains.
More than 38,500 stone tools and fragments have been uncovered across nearly 1000 sqm at Lobs Hole, Tantangara and Marica worksites, providing a rare and valuable record of repeated camps, tool-making and careful use of the land.
The excavations, led by NSW Archaeology principal archaeologist Julie Dibden, combined a recent salvage program with earlier test digs.
The work challenges the idea that the alpine environment was too harsh for people to live in, describing Aboriginal occupation as, “intense and widespread, but systematic and strategic”.
Archaeological research shows Aboriginal people have lived in the Snowy Mountains for more than 9000 years, though the broader Snowy Monaro region has evidence of occupation going back 20,000 years or more.
The Snowy Mountains are part of the Country of the Wolgalu people, who traditionally occupied the high country, while the Ngarigo people lived across the surrounding tablelands.
The two groups had distinct territories but shared cultural and linguistic connections, trading, visiting and moving through the mountains according to seasonal patterns and resource availability.
According to the study, the mountains offered the Aboriginal people a resource-rich landscape with myriad environments, each providing abundant plants and animals, wood and stone suitable for making tools.
The findings indicate the Lobs Hole valley, with plentiful nearby resources, was used as a repeat base camp for family groups and large gatherings.
Stone shaping – known as knapping – and vegetable handling also occurred.
Hammer stones were also found in the valley, demonstrating certain heavy tools were left in place for later use rather than being carried around the steep terrain.
The distribution of artefacts in the Tantangara area shows, again, there were repeated visits by families and small groups over an extended period of time, reflective of its harsher climate.
A rare rock shelter at Tantangara, just outside the project footprint and discovered during a Snowy 2.0 field survey, preserves stone tools and may offer further insight into high country living, the report said.
Rock shelters are uncommon in Kosciuszko National Park and could provide a unique look at how people survived over thousands of years.
The digs also revealed how camps were carefully chosen.
Artefacts were most common on gentle slopes, flat areas and low hills near rivers, where shelter from wind and frost, access to firewood and favourable living conditions were available.
Exposed areas, such as some river floodplains, had fewer artefacts, showing people avoided harsher spots.
The tools found in those locations included flakes, flake fragments, hammer stones, anvils, mortar stones, and a range of retouched and unmodified tools showing wear from use.
The findings, the report stated, represent an extensive and highly significant collection, offering valuable insights into Aboriginal life in the high country and making a major contribution to understanding the history and culture of the Snowy Mountains.
Preservation of the collection is paramount, the report noted, both for ongoing research and for the cultural heritage of the communities whose ancestors lived in the region.
Among the eight key report recommendations, it stresses that artefacts should be kept in their original context, with careful boxing, labelling and storage, and that Aboriginal communities remain closely involved in decisions about display, research, or long-term curation.
The report also recommends Snowy Hydro consider establishing an Aboriginal Keeping Place, a secure and culturally appropriate facility to store the artefacts while making them available for educational purposes, cultural programs, or research.
Given its location outside the Snowy 2.0 project area, the Tantangara rock shelter was excluded from development impacts, however, the report recommends considering further archaeological investigation to better understand its significance and the extent of its occupation.
A pilot study on tool wear has confirmed the functional use of many artefacts, but the report also calls for a broader study to explore patterns of tool-making, usage and how techniques varied across different sites.
The collection also offers the opportunity to examine geometric microliths – small stone tools whose manufacture remains poorly understood – and complete knapping events, which are exceptionally rare in the archaeological record.
Community involvement has been central to the project.
Snowy Hydro has conducted extensive consultation and engagement with First Nations peoples, many of whom were actively involved in the fieldwork component of the heritage works, and the findings and recommendations presented at consultation sessions in Tumut and Cooma last month.
According to Snowy Hydro these sessions ensured that decisions about the collection – how it is stored, displayed, or studied -are guided by the communities with ancestral connections to the land.
The formal outcomes of these meetings are yet to be published.
