Archaeologists find speared skeleton

A new report led by an ANU archaeologist on the first evidence of death by spearing in Australia has been published in the prestigious British journal Antiquity.

The paper outlines the collaborative detective work that took place following the discovery of the skeletal remains of an Aboriginal male in the Sydney suburb of Narrabeen during excavations for gas works in 2005. A number of stone tools, interpreted as spear barbs, were also discovered at the site.

Lead author Dr Jo McDonald from the Research School of Humanities at ANU said that anatomical, forensic and artefact studies indicate death by spearing and the archaeological evidence showed that that the man was slain and abandoned in a coastal dune around 4000 years ago.