Broome toddler unearths ancient artefact

A Broome toddler unearthed an ancient relic at the speedway grounds on the weekend which experts believe to be a 10,000 year old cutting tool.

Eli Howlett,4, found the pointed stone artefact under his mother’s chair while they attended the Broome Speedway Pearl Cup event on Saturday.

Baffled by her son’s find, Lee Howlett took to social media asking people to help identify the unusual object.

University of Western Australia School of Social Sciences Professor of World Rock Art, Centre for Rock Art Research and Management Benjamin Smith said the object was a cutting tool estimated to be up to 10,000 years old.

“Australia is extraordinarily lucky to have such a richness of archaeology, that provides evidence of complex indigenous trade, religious practices and environmental management systems extending back tens of thousands of years.”

The discovery also attracted the attention of the Nyamba Buru Yawuru Cultural Reference Group.

NBY country manager Johani Mamid said the relic was probably designed to be used as a small knife.

“The artefact is a pointed flake of a cherty material, probably originally white in colour and stained with iron oxides from the Pindan dirt,” he said.

“One of our expert advisors had suggested that it has been traded in to the Broome area - stone axeheads were traded into the Broome area from sources close to the Napier and Oscar ranges and from along the Fitzroy.”

Prof Smith commended the toddler on his extraordinary find.

“Well done to Eli, at the age of four he has successfully done what some university students take years to learn: he has seen the difference between a naturally flaked stone and an ancient stone tool,” he said.

“We need far more budding archaeologists like Eli to help us to grow the discipline of archaeology within Australia and to reveal the details of this extraordinary 50,000 year story.”

In a show of appreciation, NBY presented the Howlett family with a signed certificate and merchandise.

The relic will now be documented and stored in the Yawuru archives.