Unmarked burial places are scattered all over the vast lease where Fortescue Metals has begun work on its new Solomon mine, an area in which Aboriginal people have lived for millennia.

Three sets of skeletal remains have been found in recent months, two in caves within FMG's ''Firetail Priority Mining and Infrastructure'' area.

''This is where our most important law men were buried,'' said Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Michael Woodley, a senior law man and respected tribal elder. He led healing ceremonies for his people near one burial cave after rock movement - apparently due to exploratory drilling nearby - exposed the first set of remains.

The burial complex was described as ''… a highly important and significant site'' in one FMG archaeological report sent to the Western Australian Department of Indigenous Affairs, and seen by The Saturday Age.

Reports by Fortescue's archaeological consultants list many sites revealing evidence of prehistoric life in Yindjibarndi country, 70 kilometres north of the mining town of Tom Price.