Dr. Michael Westaway, a pa-leoanthropologist at Griffith University in Queensland. "He was obviously someone that a lot of people cared for," Westaway comments, not-ing that in the burial, his head had been tenderly placed on a cushion of sand. At first glance, Westaway reasoned that Kaakutja's le-thal injury, a long wound on his skull, had come from a cutlass blade, most likely dealt by the British militia. It turns out that the t ime of death was earlier—much, much earlier. When the remains were sub-mitted for lab tests, thepicture radically changed. Analysis revealed he had been killed in the 13th century—hundreds of years before Europeans ar-rived in Australia and intro-duced metal objects. What, then, had killed Kaakutja in the prime of his life? Westaway, who co -authored a report on Kaakutja for the journalAntiquity, was intrigued by the cause of the fatal injury. One theory cen-tered on the 111-Ii!, a sharp-ened club. On balance, how-ever, Westaway has singled out the most iconic Aborig-inal symbol: the boomerang, a weapon with a long, sur-prisingly sharp edge. Per-haps it had been wielded by Kaakutja's adversary to whip around his shield and smash into his head. Although study of inter-tribal violence in pre-contact Australia is still largely based on accounts rather than ar-chaeological evidence, Kaa-kutja's death does have a prec-e dent. Just under a decade ago, a skel eton was unearthed near Sydney. It belonged to a man wholived 4,000 years ago, be-I ieved to have been killed with stone-tipped spears. "I don't know if it was a continent-wide phenome-non," says Westaway. "But we do see evidence in this part of [Australia] that .. supports intertribal conflict." One such proof is a series of rock paint-ings near where Kaakutja was found, depicting two tribes painted in different colors wieldin.gboomerangs, shields, and clubs. Throughout the investiga-tion into what befell Kaakut-ja, William Bates's Baakantji community played a direct role in the excavation, con-tributing to the emerging picture of Aboriginal culture. "If it was not for their inter-est in their heritage, an d their support of theNational Parks ServiceWestaway notes,"an important part of their past would. have been lost". 













































































