The research solves the mystery of ring formations outside an Australian city. (Image: Caroline Spry/Australian Archaeology)
A recent study has finally shed light on the origins of mysterious ancient earth rings found on the outskirts of Melbourne.
The breakthrough research has revealed that the rings were created by ‘s Aboriginal Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people centuries ago.
The purpose and , which rise from the hills in Australia’s Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country in the suburb of Sunbury, have long been a puzzle.
Similar enigmatic rings have been discovered worldwide, including in England and Cambodia.
It’s believed that ancient inhabitants of these regions formed these large circles or rings, sometimes hundreds of metres in diameter, by
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The rings are 1,400 years old. (Image: Caroline Spry/Australian Archaeology)
It’s thought that hundreds of such earth rings once dotted Australia, many of which were destroyed
The nearly hundred that remain across the continent now hold immense significance to different Aboriginal language groups reflecting on a history of colonisation and resilience, say researchers and elders of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung culture.
Researchers argue that a comprehensive understanding of earth rings cannot be achieved without integrating various aspects of cultural knowledge about the landscape and preserved ancestral activity traces in the region.
of one such ring has unveiled that it was constructed “sometime between 590 and 1,400 years ago”.
The study revealed that Aboriginal people meticulously cleared land and vegetation in the area, scraped back soil and rock to form the ring mound, and then proceeded to create stone arrangements by layering rocks.
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Stone tools were used to move items around the rings. (Image: Caroline Spry/Australian Archaeology)
The research, recently published in the journal, indicates that the Indigenous people of the region lit campfires and utilised stone tools to move items within the ring’s interior.
These tools were likely also , as well as to craft feather decorations and scar human skin during ceremonies, according to researchers.
The researchers wrote: “The results bring together Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people’s understandings of the biik wurrda cultural landscape and archaeological evidence for cultural fire, knapping, movement, trampling, and tool-use by their Ancestors at the ring.
“While memory of the purpose of the Sunbury Rings has faded, a deep understanding of the cultural values of the landscape in which they are embedded has been passed down through successive generations of Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people.”