Normally one hears about cases of artefacts whose original context has been destroyed after the event rather than before. In this case though, a campaign is underway to protect Aboriginal rock carvings in Western Australia.

From:
Sydney Morning Herald

Garrett urged to protect cave art from extraction
Marian Wilkinson, Environment Editor
September 13, 2008

A CAMPAIGN to win World Heritage listing for the Aboriginal rock carvings on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia threatens to push the Rudd Government into a confrontation with the energy giant Woodside Petroleum.

The Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, is coming under pressure from archaeologists, led by the head of the International Federation of Rock Art Organisations, Robert Bednarik, to nominate the site. It is believed to hold the largest concentration of rock art in the world and is possibly the first site of human habitation in Australia.
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