Juukan Gorge: The Story of Destruction, Excavation and Rebuilding

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Juukan Gorge: The Story of Destruction, Excavation and Rebuilding" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

On the 24th of May 2020 the world was shocked to learn of the destruction of Juukan Gorge by mining company Rio Tinto as part of their mine expansion. Blasting of the gorge included severe damage to rockshelters known to be over 40,000 years old and containing a unique cultural history of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama People. Public outcry ensued. The Australian Federal Government conducted a Parliamentary enquiry, and heritage protection legislation was changed. However, we question how effective have these changes been and what lessons have been learned from this disaster.

This session is provided by the PKKP Aboriginal Corporation and those who assisted with the archaeological investigations; originally and now as the Gorge is rehabilitated. In the session we present the history of excavations, destruction, re-excavation and attempts to move forward. This is the first public presentation of this information, discussing the extreme archaeological significance of Juukan and its place in the cultural landscape of the PKK.

Other Keywords
Cultural Resources and Heritage Management • Historic • Paleolithic • Caves and Rockshelters • Cultural Resource Management • Cultural Heritage and Preservation

Geographic Keywords
AUSTRALIA • Commonwealth of Australia (Country) • Queensland (State / Territory) • Australia (Continent) • Victoria (State / Territory) • New South Wales (State / Territory) • Tasmania (State / Territory) • South Australia (State / Territory) • Western Australia (State / Territory) • Australian Capital Territory (State / Territory)