Juukan Gorge

Juukan Gorge is a gorge in the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, about 60 kilometres from the town of Tom Price. It was named by the daughter of Juukan, also known as Tommy Ashburton, a Puutu Kunti Kurrama man who was born at Jukarinya (Mount Brockman). The gorge is known mainly for a rock shelter cave that was the only inland site in Australia with evidence of continuous human occupation for more than 46,000 years, including through the last Ice Age. Excavations found animal bones in middens, grindstones, sacred objects and a length of plaited human hair about 4,000 years old whose DNA matched the living Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura peoples. Mining consent had been given to Rio Tinto in 2013 for its Brockman 4 expansion, and the cave was destroyed by blasting on 24 May 2020, which caused wide public outcry and an apology from the company. Plans exist for a full-size replica of the rock shelters at the site.