AS FIRE tore through the Budj Bim World Heritage landscape in past weeks Indigenous land manager Denis Rose quietly thought the blaze would expose unknown cultural heritage sites.
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Now the discovery of about a dozen lost sites near Lake Condah has confirmed those suspicions, found during hazardous tree assessments in the 6400-hectare fire area.
Buried under razed long grass and bracken were the remains of two aquaculture systems thought to be unknown to land managers and researchers, as well as remains of up to nine stone huts.
Mr Rose said the systems, used to trap fish, were part of a bigger area known as the Muldoons, a concentration of weirs and dams that are the world's oldest aquaculture system.
Scientists have carbon dated some of the systems to 6600-years-old.
"We've always understood not all sites have been recorded and found," Mr Rose said.
"It's certainly not all bad following the fire, it's an opportunity."
It's certainly not all bad following the fire.
- Denis Rose
He said the fish traps, similar to about 70 others around Lake Condah, were undulations in the ground where humans had purposefully constructed channels and ponds.
"It's been dug by picking out loose rocks and also lighting a hot fire on top of the rock, burning a section of it," Mr Rose said.
Land managers were even surprised to find one of the aquaculture systems about 15 metres from where tours frequent known sites.
Archaeologists have undertaken a series of surveys of the vast number of sites in past decades but Mr Rose said the fire had created a new opportunity for research.
Light detection technology will help researchers create a more thorough model of the sites in late February.
"It's always been a bit ad hoc," Mr Rose said of the work over time.
"This a good opportunity to focus and incorporate new technology ... we have a bit of easier access, we can walk around on the lava flow."
He said the fire had not reached temperatures hot enough to damage the stone sites.
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