Ancient Sites Now Destroyed by Australian Fires

The forest fires of Australia have burnt down many trees and forest areas, but the fires have now also destroyed sites of ancient indigenous communities, where vital knowledge of movement of these indigenous groups occurred.  10-million hectares (25 million acres) of vegetative land has been destroyed by these forest fires, especially in culturally-rich areas such as eastern Victoria, where the Gunaikurnai people lived. Much of the art, including culturally-modified trees for traditional uses, rock art and engravings, stone-tool sites, and grinding stone sites all have been affected by these forest fires.  Places dating back to 20,000 years ago, when the last ice age occurred, have been destroyed, but the positive side to the fires is that unknown land has been uncovered by the destruction of thick vegetation, leaving new places for archaeologists to discover.

The fires are truly devastating, especially now that indigenous sites are being  destroyed. The fires need to be stopped in order to end the damage where it is. 25 million acres is a lot of land, and I don’t know how all of the vegetation will be recovered as of now.  I found this article interesting because I didn’t know about the history found in the forests that are being burnt down. I also think it’s interesting that these fires opened up new land, and I hope that the new land can be discovered and appreciated just as much as the sites beforehand.

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