doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-01912-w. Epub 2024 Jul 1.
Archaeological evidence of an ethnographically documented Australian Aboriginal ritual dated to the last ice age
Bruno David 1 2, Russell Mullett 3 4, Nathan Wright 5 6, Birgitta Stephenson 7, Jeremy Ash 8 3, Joanna Fresløv 4; GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation; Jean-Jacques Delannoy 3 9, Matthew C McDowell 8 3, Jerome Mialanes 8 3, Fiona Petchey 10 11, Lee J Arnold 3 12, Ashleigh J Rogers 8 3, Joe Crouch 8, Helen Green 3 13, Chris Urwin 8 3, Carney D Matheson 14
Affiliations
- PMID:38951612
- PMCID: PMC11343701
- DOI: 10.1038/s41562-024-01912-w
Item in Clipboard
Archaeological evidence of an ethnographically documented Australian Aboriginal ritual dated to the last ice age
Bruno David et al. Nat Hum Behav.2024 Aug.
Display options
Format
Display options
Format
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.
© 2024. The Author(s).
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare no competing interests.
Figures
The ritual installations reported in this article were excavated at Cloggs Cave.
a, The installation from XU8–9 (SU4D) dates to 10,720–12,420 cal BP (Bayesian-modelled age).b, The installation from XU11 (SU4E) dates to 11,420–12,950 cal BP (Bayesian-modelled age).
a,V. ursinus scat manually positioned on the installation from XU11.b, The location of lipid extraction (shown inc andd) on the trimmed stick from XU8–9. Note the palaeo-staining of the wood; the lipids came from the lighter section of the wood in the lower right quarter of the photograph (photographed at ×30 magnification under cross-polarized light).c,d, Two examples of lipid residues (clear transparent ‘bubbly’ film) on the trimmed stick from XU8–9 (photographed at ×400 magnification under part-polarized light).e,f, Lipid or keratin-like fragments on the 11,420–12,950 cal BP (Bayesian-modelled age) trimmed stick from XU11. Ine, it has taken up the PSR stain and is thus stained pink, while the stain inf is more diffuse and has only been taken up along its peaks and ridges, as represented by the thin pink lines in the fragment (photographed at ×400 magnification under part-polarized light).
a, The trimmed stick from the XU8–9 fireplace.b, End view of the XU8–9 trimmed stick, showing the large rays (blue arrows) characteristic ofCasuarina spp. At this magnification, the smaller rays are not visible. The number of large rays is characteristic ofC. cunninghamiana. The vessel distribution and vessel sizes are relatively uniform.c, The proximal end of the trimmed stick from the XU8–9 fireplace. The remnant base of a twig trimmed off flush with the smooth surface of the stick is evident (yellow rectangle).d, The trimmed hooked stick from the XU11 fireplace. The distal end is charred. The blue rectangle shows the proximal end from which the torn and fibrous end was broken from the tree. The red rectangles show larger twigs that were trimmed or broken off. The yellow rectangles show small twig junctions cut or scraped off flush with the stem, creating a smooth shaft on the stick.e, Torn fibrous proximal hooked end of the trimmed stick from the XU11 fireplace. The fibrous elements indicate that the wood was green when broken. The base of a small twig cut or scraped flush with the main stem is evident (yellow rectangle).f,g, Three different bases of twigs (yellow rectangles) cut or scraped flush with the main stem of the stick from the XU11 fireplace.h, Small twig from the XU11 fireplace. It exhibits no signs of twig removal nor charring (photos by Steve Morton).
Similar articles
- Data analysis of zoonoses notifications in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations in Australia 1996-2021: implications for One Health.Riley T, Lovett R, Cumming B, Meredith A, Anderson NE, Thandrayen J.Riley T, et al.Front Public Health. 2023 Oct 12;11:1175835. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1175835. eCollection 2023.Front Public Health. 2023.PMID:37900024Free PMC article.
- 2000 Year-old Bogong moth (Agrotis infusa) Aboriginal food remains, Australia.Stephenson B, David B, Fresløv J, Arnold LJ; GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation; Delannoy JJ, Petchey F, Urwin C, Wong VNL, Fullagar R, Green H, Mialanes J, McDowell M, Wood R, Hellstrom J.Stephenson B, et al.Sci Rep. 2020 Dec 17;10(1):22151. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-79307-w.Sci Rep. 2020.PMID:33335222Free PMC article.
- Co-designing a health promotion program for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls: lessons learnt.English M, Canuto K, Schulenkorf N, Evans J, Curry C, Slater C, Caperchione CM.English M, et al.Health Promot Int. 2023 Apr 1;38(2):daad011. doi: 10.1093/heapro/daad011.Health Promot Int. 2023.PMID:36857610
- Towards precision cancer medicine for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cancer health equity.Clark Adnyamathanha JR, Buck Kamilaroi J, Richards-Satour Adnyamathanha And Barngarla A, Lyons Jaadwa L, Brown Yuin A.Clark Adnyamathanha JR, et al.Med J Aust. 2024 Jul 1;221(1):68-73. doi: 10.5694/mja2.52346.Med J Aust. 2024.PMID:38946636Review.
- Autoimmune rheumatic disease in Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples: What do we know?Eades LE, Sines J, Hoi AY, Liddle R, Kandane-Rathnayake R, Morand EF, Brady S, Rischmueller M, Vincent FB.Eades LE, et al.Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2024 Apr;65:152354. doi: 10.1016/j.semarthrit.2023.152354. Epub 2024 Jan 14.Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2024.PMID:38237231Review.
References
- Bradley, R. The Past in Prehistoric Societies (Routledge, 2002).
- Silliman, S. W. Change and continuity, practice and memory: Native American persistence in colonial New England. Am. Antiq.74, 211–230 (2009).10.1017/S0002731600048575 - DOI
- Sheppard, P., Walter, R. & Aswani, S. Oral tradition and the creation of late prehistory in Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands. Rec. Aust. Mus.29, 123–132 (2004).10.3853/j.0812-7387.29.2004.1408 - DOI
- Aswani, S. Changing identities: the ethnohistory of Roviana predatory head-hunting. J. Polyn. Soc.109, 39–70 (2000).
- Skelly, R., David, B., McNiven, I. J. & Barker, B. The ritual dugong bone mounds of Koey Ngurtai, Torres Strait, Australia: investigating their construction. Int. J. Osteoarchaeol.21, 32–54 (2011).10.1002/oa.1104 - DOI
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources