An archaeological dig is underway at one of the most heavily industrialised areas of Australia, to try to establish how long ago Aboriginal people arrived in the area.

The Burrup Peninsula was recently deregistered as a heritage site, and local Aboriginal people are hoping the dating work will help build their case to have it not only re-listed, but considered for world heritage listing.

Murujuga cultural ranger Geoffrey Togo said the research team had their blessing.

"They're doing a good job, and so far the dates they've picked up are over 7,000 years old," he said.

"The way we see it, this area is basically [as] old as time and should be looked after, so hopefully it will make the Government listen and agree with what we as Aboriginal people are saying, that these sites need to be protected."

The Burrup Peninsula is home to the biggest and oldest collection of rock carvings in the world, but they sit alongside major oil and gas infrastructure.

The State Government has admitted over the years that hundreds of images of people, birds and animals have been destroyed by mining companies.

The three-year research project is aiming to establish how long the Ngarda-Ngarli people have inhabited the area.

Archaeologist Peter Veth said very little was known about the history of human occupation of the area.

"The Pilbara's got these really early dates of occupation, but remarkably for an area with over a million engravings, that's one of the biggest rock art estates in the world, there are no firm dates," he said.

"We're targeting a beautiful rock shelter, that during the last ice age this was a mountain range probably 200km inland from the coast.

"Quite spectacularly, we've dug down to below the level of the last ice age, so we're expecting very old dates here that could provide the antiquity of occupation that fits in with Aboriginal lore for deep, deep time in the Pilbara."

Evidence of 7,400-year-old meal helps date site

The dig site is located high up under a rock ledge, within view of where a fertiliser plant, gas plants and a power station cluster on the coast.

Professor Jo McDonald (L) and Professor Peter Veth (R) are working to establish the age of an Aboriginal site which could be tens of thousands of years old. ( ABC News: Erin Parke )

It is painstaking work for the team of eight people, carefully brushing away at the half a metre-deep ditch, trying to locate bits of tools and remnants of food.

Volunteer university students are on hand to sift through kilograms of soil.

The items found are sent away for radio-carbon testing, and already the results are promising.

Professor Jo McDonald said during a test dig last year, they found a section of shellfish, a remnant of a meal eaten thousands of years ago.

"We got a date from that just as we were starting working here this week, which is 7,400 years, so we're excited to have an end point for this site," she said.

"And because we've excavated a long way below that, we have a pretty good indication that we're getting into much earlier times, that we suspect could end up being 40,000 to 50,0000 years old."

The team hopes the scientific evidence will help make the case for protections of the area to be strengthened.

The broader Burrup Peninsula area was recently de-registered as a heritage site, based on an interpretation of WA's Heritage Act, later found by the Supreme Court to be invalid.

The State Government has not yet said if it intends to re-list the 22 sites affected.