The truth about Australia's 1,400-year-old 'mystery earth ring' finally discovered

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has been solved.

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G'day, many mob of earth rings got busted after the Europeans turned up. Only about a hundred of the dozens that used to be in New South Wales and Queensland are still goin'. In Victoria, there's a smaller number of rings still hangin' around.

The Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people are the Traditional Custodians of a big area in Victoria's central-south, and the landscape has cultural importance. In 2022 they led a new archaeological dig on one of the rings known as Sunbury Ring G.

The arvo was first dug up in 1979 by archaeologist David Frankel. The mob from the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung mob led the ripper job on dating and re-examining 166 stone tools they'd found during Frankel's digs.

A collection of relics were pieced together, remnants were examined and concentric deposits were assessed to estimate the timeframe when the ring was formed.

They also started fires and made stone tools to organise the arrangement. Investigations of wear and residue patterns on the stones suggest some of the stone tools were used to make feather decorations and to scar skin for ceremonies.

The researchers claimed the study "shows the significance of further examining and conserving these earth rings, along with any others that are known to occur across eastern Australia".

“Especially in light of ongoing dangers from land clearing and climate change that jeopardise the future of earth's ecosystems.”

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