Stone Artefacts

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(gentle music)- So, we're just in another part of the midden now.In midden sites like this,it's really common to find stone tools as well.These are some stone toolsthat would be found in a site like this.And so a really easy way to identify a stone artefactis to look for the platformwhere it's been hit with the hammer stone and flaked offand then often there'll bethis bulb of percussion on the back.And then another easy way to tell if it's a stone toolis you can see the flaking off the ridgesand the retouching around the sharp edge.So, some stone tools were made and usedand discarded straight awayand favoured ones, or favoured materials,would be retouched continuouslyand used over and over again.This is spongolite.This is only found in one area in lutruwita, Tasmania,so it was quarried thereand then traded throughout the island.So, stone tools made out of this materialcan be found in midden sites all around the island.So things like that can tell us a lot about trade routesand important resources.You can find stone tools right across Tasmania.You can find one isolated artefact on its own anywhere,out in the bush, in your yard sometimes.You could find a scatter of stone toolsor potentially a knapping floor,so an area where people have come into quarrya certain material and then sat and made stone tools there.If you think you've found a stone tool,it's really important to leave it where it is.Don't pick it up and take it away.As soon as a stone artefact is removed from its site,it loses all its cultural integrity.But these artefacts are incredibly importantto the Aboriginal communitybecause they're tangible connectionsto our past and to our ancestorsand, you know, they tell us a lot about how people livedand survived here on this little islandfor such a long time.