Aboriginals urge UNESCO to protect ancient carvings site

A delegation of Australia’s Aboriginal people has travelled to Paris to win UN backing for the protection of a heritage site back home they say is threatened by harmful mining.

- Agence France-Presse

The World Heritage Committee at UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural organisation, has been deliberating since the start of the week on what sites to include in the latest edition of the body's world heritage list.

Among the dozens of sites under consideration is Murujuga, a remote area in the state of Western Australia that according to estimates houses around one million petroglyphs --carvings that could date back 50,000 years.

“It’s possibly the most important rock art site in the world,” said Benjamin Smith, a rock art specialist at the University of Western Australia. “We should be looking after it.