WA government rejects artefacts claim

A site where thousands of Aboriginal artefacts were found in the 1970s no longer has any heritage value, the state government says, contradicting a claim by the Greens.

A Department of Aboriginal Affairs spokesman said more than 2000 artefacts were uncovered at the site near the planned Roe 8 project in 1973 and stored at the WA Museum, but no more were identified in subsequent surveys.

And in 2004, an archaeologist concluded the site had been "completely destroyed" by landscaping and the laying of grass for recreational purposes.

But West Australian Greens MP Lynn MacLaren says significant artefacts could still remain.

She claims there has been an "inadequate" level of examination of the site by state government's Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee, which initially recommended against granting heritage approval to the Roe 8 project but later changed its mind.

The department spokesman said there had been "ample opportunity for stakeholders to provide information around the heritage value of the area for the ACMC to consider".

The committee would not put a site of significant heritage value at risk, he said.