Australian finds A$ 100,000 gold nugget using metal detector
Sydney: An Australian man has unearthed a 1.4kg (49oz) gold nugget with a metal detector while wandering Western Australia’s gold fields, say locals. A shop in Kalgoorlie shared pictures of the rock online, estimated to be worth A$100,000 (?54,000; $69,000). The unidentified man was an experienced local hobbyist, shop owner Matt Cook, told the BBC. Finds of this scale by prospectors are known to happen a few times a year, experts say. About three-quarters of the gold mined in Australia is produced in and around the Kalgoorlie region. Mr Cook, who owns a shop selling supplies to gold prospectors, said the man detected the piece on some saltbush flats, about 45cm (18 inches) below the surface. “He walked into my shop and showed me the nugget in his hand with a big smile on his face,” Mr Cook told the BBC. “It just a bit bigger than a packet of smokes, and the density of it was incredible, so heavy.” Smaller traces of gold are more common finds in the region, says Prof Sam Spearing, director of the Western Australia School of Mines at Curtin University. “Along with the mines around, a lot of people go around as prospectors on the weekend, as a hobby. Other people do it on a full-time basis,” Prof Spearing said. (UNI)
More mysterious ‘jars of the dead’ discovered in Laos
Melbourne: Scientists have discovered 15 new sites in Laos containing over a hundred mysterious 1,000-year-old massive stone jars — similar to those found in India and Indonesia — possibly used to bury the dead. The jars of Laos are one of archaeology’s enduring mysteries, said researchers from the Australian National University (ANU). Experts believe they were related to disposal of the dead, but nothing is known about the jars’ original purpose and the people who brought them there. The new findings show the distribution of the jars was more widespread than previously thought and could unlock the secrets surrounding their origin. The sites, deep in remote and mountainous forest and containing 137 jars, were identified by ANU PhD student Nicholas Skopal with officials from the Laos government. “These new sites have really only been visited by the occasional tiger hunter. Now we’ve rediscovered them, we’re hoping to build a clear picture about this culture and how it disposed of its dead,” said Skopal. ANU archaeologist Dougald O’Reilly, who co-led the team, said the new sites show the ancient burial practices involving the jars was “more widespread than previously thought”. “It’s apparent the jars, some weighing several tonnes, were carved in quarries, and somehow transported, often several kilometres to their present locations,” said O’Reilly. This year’s excavations revealed beautifully carved discs which are most likely burial markers placed around the jars. Among typical iron-age artifacts found with the burials – decorative ceramics, glass beads, iron tools, discs worn in the ears and spindle whorls for cloth making – one particular find piqued the researchers’ interest. (PTI)