28 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Australia’s 1,400-year-old Mysterious Earth Rings: Evidence of Millennia of Human Effort, Not Natural Formation

A chain of mysterious earth rings in the Sunbury hills at the fringe of Melbourne, in Australia have been found to be not a natural formation, but an evidence of millennia of human effort.

The Sunbury suburb’s Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country is home to these “earth rings,” which are not naturally occurring. They are actually enormous achievements of human endeavor. They also symbolize the Aboriginal people’s long-standing and continuing ties to their homeland.

A new study integrates the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung knowledge with the first archaeological excavation of one of the rings. This accomplishment adds to our understanding of Australia’s archaeological heritage, which spans more than 65,000 years of ongoing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander habitation.

These amazing earthworks, which are now regarded as artifacts of great cultural significance, were made between 590 and 1,400 years ago by the Aboriginal Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people. They did so by excavating and heaping together earth in a large circle (or circles) measuring up to hundreds of metres in diameter The most recent article in Australian Archaeology showed fresh insights into their meaning and construction.

These earth rings are not isolated phenomena; similar formations have been found globally, including in England and Cambodia. Earth rings are considered sacred ceremonial sites for Aboriginal language groups in eastern Australia. However, as a result of European colonization and land development, many of these rings were destroyed. There used to be hundreds of them in Queensland and New South Wales, but now there are only 100. There have been reports of five earth rings, including the Sunbury rings, in Victoria.

However, the Sunbury rings are uniquely Australian, representing profound connections to the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung’s cultural landscape, or “biik wurrdha,” which encompasses land, water, sky, and ancestral traditions.

Details of refit sets identified in the Sunbury Ring G artifacts. Credit: Caroline Spry et al., Australian Archaeology (2025)
Details of refit sets identified in the Sunbury Ring G artifacts. Credit: Caroline Spry et al., Australian Archaeology (2025)

The Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung conducted a cultural values study of the region encompassing the Sunbury rings during 2021-2022. Also in 2022, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people performed an archaeological dig at Sunbury Ring G, a place of cultural and ceremonial significance.

Archaeologist David Frankel previously excavated this site in 1979, as well as the area where the Wurundjeri Wilam and Marin Bulluk clans were divided by Jacksons Creek from one another. This new research involved the examination of 166 stone artifacts. In the process of reconstructing the artifacts, the deposits were dated.  All of this brought to light the methods and tools used by the people of Woi-Wurrung.

The team pieced together the way Woi-wurrung-speaking people lived and interacted in these areas using advanced dates and artifact analyses. They prepared plants and animals, made and used stone tools, made decoration out of feathers, lit campfires, and performed rituals such as scarifying human skin. The tools’ wear patterns and residue offer concrete proof of these activities.

The archaeological and cultural interpretation of Australian earth rings is woven together in this first-of-its-kind research. It shows how crucial those sites are and the threats they endure due to land use and climate change developments.

Spry, C., Freedman, D. L., Hayes, E., Hitchcock, G., Morrison, W., … Mullins, B. (2025). New braided knowledge understandings of an Aboriginal earth ring and biik wurrdha (Jacksons Creek, Sunbury) on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country, southeastern Australia. Australian Archaeology, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/03122417.2024.2428019

Cover Image Credit: Aerial image of Sunbury Ring G. Credit: Caroline Spry et al., Australian Archaeology (2025)

Related Articles

2000-Year-Old Marvel: The Mystery of the Parthian Battery

1 March 2024

1 March 2024

The Parthian Battery is believed to be about 2000 years old (from the Parthian period, roughly 250 BCE to CE...

India’s Ancient ‘Dwarf Chambers’: Hire Benkal’s 2,500-Year-Old Mysterious Megalithic Legacy

26 July 2025

26 July 2025

Tucked away in the rugged granite hills of Karnataka lies Hire Benkal, a vast prehistoric necropolis that silently guards the...

Numerous Statue Fragments Unearthed at Lost Apollo Sanctuary in Cyprus!

29 April 2025

29 April 2025

The Sanctuary of Apollo at Frangissa, located near ancient Tamassos and lost for approximately 140 years, has been rediscovered through...

Marvelous Marble Floor Of Sunken Roman Villa Restored in Bacoli

19 July 2024

19 July 2024

In Bacoli, Italy, an underwater restoration project has uncovered the marvelous marble floor of a submerged Roman villa. This remarkable...

Neolithic village discovered in northeastern France after 150 years of research

29 August 2023

29 August 2023

Archaeologists have uncovered traces of a permanent settlement in the vast Neolithic site of the Marais de Saint-Gond in northeastern...

Archaeologists in Israel are restoring the largest Roman Basilica in the country

6 June 2021

6 June 2021

Archaeologists in Israel are trying to rebuild a 2,000-year-old Roman-era basilica that is thought to be the country’s biggest. A...

Tens of Thousands of Ancient Bronze Coins Dating from the 4th Century Discovered Off Sardinia

4 November 2023

4 November 2023 1

A diver spotted something metallic at the bottom of the sea off the town of Arzachena in the Sassari province...

In Pontefract, archaeologists have discovered Neolithic remains

18 June 2021

18 June 2021

Archaeologists working on the site of the former Carleton Furniture factory at Mill Dam Lane in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England,...

A Byzantine Princess, a Mongol Khan, and a Church: The Bloody Church and Its Unknown History

13 May 2025

13 May 2025

Nestled at the base of the imposing Phanar Greek Orthodox College, a landmark intrinsically linked to the panoramic vistas of...

Polish Archaeologists uncover a ancient residence and mysterious mask in Libya’s ancient city Ptolemais

15 January 2025

15 January 2025

In Libya’s ancient city of Ptolemais on the Mediterranean coast, Polish archaeologists have uncovered a dwelling equipped with an advanced...

Wildfire Uncovers Lost Biblical Village of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee

16 August 2025

16 August 2025

In a surprising twist of fate, a wildfire that swept through Israel’s Betiha Nature Reserve in late July has unveiled...

Oman discovers fort dating back to the 5th century in North Al Batinah

12 March 2022

12 March 2022

A fort dating back to the 5th century has been discovered at Oman’s Al Fulaij archaeological site in North Al...

Ancient Agora Discovered in Hyllarima: Shops to Be Excavated in the Heart of the City

29 June 2025

29 June 2025

A major archaeological discovery has been made in the ancient city of Hyllarima in southwestern Türkiye—the city’s central agora has...

Archaeologists Discovered the Largest Inscription Ever Found in Sri Lanka

10 February 2024

10 February 2024

Archaeologists discovered the largest inscription ever found in Sri Lanka. The largest inscription ever discovered in Sri Lanka was found...

9,200-year-old Noongar habitation discovered at Augusta archaeological dig site

28 July 2021

28 July 2021

An archaeological dig in Augusta, in West Australia‘s South West, has uncovered evidence of Noongar habitation dating back an estimated...