In societies without writing, archaeologically tracing ethnographically known rituals back more than a few hundred years is rare. However, new archaeological evidence has been gleaned from the foothills of the Australian Alps, uncovering buried miniature fireplaces dating back 11,000 and 12,000 years, containing protruding trimmed wooden artifacts made of Casuarina wood smeared with animal or human fat.
Cloggs Cave Investigation
At the invitation of Gunai Kurnai Aboriginal Elders, researchers conducted archaeological excavations at Cloggs Cave in the Alpine foothills.
In Gunai Kurnai Country, caves were used during the early colonial period (mid-nineteenth century AD) not as residences, but as secluded sites for rituals performed by Aboriginal medicine men and women, known as "mulla-mullung," as documented by ethnographers. The findings of the investigation have been published in the July edition of Nature Human Behavior.
These artifacts match the configuration and contents of Gunai Kurnai ritual installations described in nineteenth-century ethnography. The findings represent 500 generations of cultural transmission of a documented ritual practice that dates back to the end of the last ice age and include Australia’s oldest known wooden artifacts.