A 24-day voyage across the coast of Queensland, Australia, revealed the hidden lives of indigenous people that once occupied an ancient landscape found frozen in time.
A team of scientists and Aboriginal rangers have uncovered a submerged landscape beneath Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, mapping rivers, lakes, estuaries, and beaches in great detail. The hidden coastal plain was where First Nations people once lived before sea levels rose around 7,000 years ago, submerged the area beneath the waters.
“First Nations people arrived in Australia over 65,000 years ago when sea levels were 80 meters below present day,” Helen Bostock, a researcher at the University of Queensland who served as chief scientist for the voyage, said in a statement. “At that time, the Great Barrier Reef area was a vast coastal plain bordered by towering forests that stretched inland.”
A hidden world
The research team embarked on a vessel named Investigator, with the ensuing voyage co-designed with the Darumbal Traditional Owners of Sea Country and the neighboring Woppaburra people.
Using high-resolution mapping, the researchers combined the scientific findings with the cultural knowledge of the aboriginal people to reconstruct the history of the ancient landscape. The sonar system on board the vessel mapped a landscape frozen in time.
“Our research has revealed submerged rivers, lakes, estuaries, and beaches in stunning detail that helps tell the story of the First Nations people who lived on this land in times past,” Bostock said.
To help reconstruct prior conditions, the researchers collected more than 20 sediment cores from the seabed to examine various types of fossils. The data will help them reconstruct the historical climate, sea level rise, vegetation, and evolution of the southern Great Barrier Reef in a process known as paleo environmental reconstruction.
“Seafloor sediments act like time capsules and allow us to reconstruct the history of the region, from its past as a wide coastal plain to the development of the modern Great Barrier Reef, and connect this with the cultural stories of the Darumbal people and their close neighbours the Woppaburra people,” Bostock said.
Voyage through time
The research aims to connect indigenous people with their ancient landscape and preserve the history found beneath the ocean.
“We hope this journey makes our families, ancestors and the Darumbal people proud, while creating stronger pathways for our younger generations to continue caring for and protecting our Land and Sea Country,” Nataliah Backo, a Land and Sea Country Ranger from the Darumbal people, said in a statement.
The oceanographic data will also be used to understand past and present ocean conditions and predict how future changes might impact the reef. “By weaving together modern science and traditional knowledge systems, we have a much greater understanding of the story of the southern Great Barrier Reef, which will help us better protect its incredible natural and cultural values into the future,” Bostock said.
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