Don Ranson facts for kids

Don Ranson is an Australian archaeologist who helped discover and understand very old Aboriginal sites in Tasmania. His important discoveries have been written about in many books and even shown in video documentaries.

Don Ranson was born in Sheffield, England. He later moved to Australia. In 1978, he started his PhD research in Tasmania. He studied an old hut site at Sundown Point.

Discovering Ancient Caves

Don Ranson is famous for helping to find Fraser Cave. This cave was later renamed Kutikina Cave. He found it with another archaeologist, Rhys Jones, on Tasmania's West Coast.

Kutikina Cave: A Window to the Past

The discovery of Kutikina Cave was very important. It showed that people lived in the Tasmanian highlands during the Pleistocene Ice Age. This means people were there thousands of years ago, when much of the Earth was covered in ice. This discovery changed what we knew about how long Aboriginal people have lived in Tasmania.

Career and New Techniques

In the 1990s, Don Ranson worked as a senior archaeologist. He was with the Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage Tasmania. More recently, he has worked for the Aboriginal Heritage Office. This office helps protect important Aboriginal cultural sites.

Using Technology in Archaeology

Don Ranson also helped bring new technology to archaeology in Australia. He was one of the first to use "remote sensing" to find ancient sites. Remote sensing uses special equipment, like radar or aerial photos, to find things hidden underground or from far away. For example, he used this method to study old Aboriginal burial sites at Wybellina. This technology helps archaeologists find sites without digging them up first.