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Archaeological evidence of an ethnographically documented Australian Aboriginal ritual dated to the last ice age

Author

Listed:
  • Bruno David

    (Monash University
    Monash University)

  • Russell Mullett

    (Monash University
    GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation)

  • Nathan Wright

    (University of New England
    Everick Foundation)

  • Birgitta Stephenson

    (In the Groove Analysis Pty Ltd)

  • Jeremy Ash

    (Monash University
    Monash University)

  • Joanna Fresløv

    (GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation)

  • Jean-Jacques Delannoy

    (Monash University
    Université Savoie Mont Blanc)

  • Matthew C. McDowell

    (Monash University
    Monash University)

  • Jerome Mialanes

    (Monash University
    Monash University)

  • Fiona Petchey

    (University of Waikato
    James Cook University)

  • Lee J. Arnold

    (Monash University
    University of Adelaide)

  • Ashleigh J. Rogers

    (Monash University
    Monash University)

  • Joe Crouch

    (Monash University)

  • Helen Green

    (Monash University
    University of Melbourne)

  • Chris Urwin

    (Monash University
    Monash University)

  • Carney D. Matheson

    (Griffith University)

Abstract

In societies without writing, ethnographically known rituals have rarely been tracked back archaeologically more than a few hundred years. At the invitation of GunaiKurnai Aboriginal Elders, we undertook archaeological excavations at Cloggs Cave in the foothills of the Australian Alps. In GunaiKurnai Country, caves were not used as residential places during the early colonial period (mid-nineteenth century CE), but as secluded retreats for the performance of rituals by Aboriginal medicine men and women known as ‘mulla-mullung’, as documented by ethnographers. Here we report the discovery of buried 11,000- and 12,000-year-old miniature fireplaces with protruding trimmed wooden artefacts made of Casuarina wood smeared with animal or human fat, matching the configuration and contents of GunaiKurnai ritual installations described in nineteenth-century ethnography. These findings represent 500 generations of cultural transmission of an ethnographically documented ritual practice that dates back to the end of the last ice age and that contains Australia’s oldest known wooden artefacts.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno David & Russell Mullett & Nathan Wright & Birgitta Stephenson & Jeremy Ash & Joanna Fresløv & Jean-Jacques Delannoy & Matthew C. McDowell & Jerome Mialanes & Fiona Petchey & Lee J. Arnold & Ashl, 2024. "Archaeological evidence of an ethnographically documented Australian Aboriginal ritual dated to the last ice age," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 8(8), pages 1481-1492, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nathum:v:8:y:2024:i:8:d:10.1038_s41562-024-01912-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01912-w
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jillian Garvey & Brett Cochrane & Judith Field & Chris Boney, 2011. "Modern emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) butchery, economic utility and analogues for the Australian archaeological record," Environmental Archaeology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 97-112, October.
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