Aboriginal Quarry Site, Port Cygnet
South East Tasmania Aboriginal Corporation
Location
Date
Archaeology
Significant Indigenous archaeological sites exist around Cygnet in the Huon Valley of southern Tasmania. When the South East Tasmania Aboriginal Corporation (SETAC) received funding to examine options for the protection and management of these sites, Cosmos Archaeology was commissioned to undertake an archaeological investigation of an Indigenous stone quarry site.
Located at Rocky Bay, the quarry site required maritime expertise as it was situated on the shore line with some of the worked boulders dispersed within the intertidal zone.
The objective of the project was to determine whether any worked boulders were located beyond the tidal zone, and how far out the stone artefacts were scattered in the bay.
Cosmos Archaeology surveyed the area out from Rocky Point and was able to determine the presence and continuation of the rock outcrop up to 16 metres from the low water line, and within 2 metres of water. The stone resource may continue further out, but sedimentation associated with the last major sea level rise, has buried the potential site.
