Ancient artefacts suggest Australian ritual endured for 12,000 years

Wooden sticks unearthed in an Australian cave bear striking resemblance to the descriptions provided by a 19th-century anthropologist. The discovery indicates that the GurnaiKurnai people may have engaged in a similar ritual at the culmination of the last glacial period. This finding sheds light on the cultural practices and traditions of the GurnaiKurnai people during this significant historical period.

Wooden artifacts discovered in an Australian cave indicate that an Indigenous ceremony described in the 19th century may have been practiced as far back as 12,000 years ago, potentially making it the oldest known cultural ritual in the world. In a collaborative effort between archaeologists and members of the local Indigenous community known as the GunaiKurnai from south-eastern Australia, an excavation at Cloggs cave near the Snowy River in Victoria took place between 2019 and 2020.

The site, which had previously been partially excavated in the 1970s, yielded significant findings during the recent exploration. Two well-preserved fireplaces were uncovered, containing mostly unburnt artefacts crafted from local Casuarina trees. Chemical analysis revealed that the artefacts were coated with animal or human fat and dated back to approximately 11,000 to 12,000 years ago, making them some of the oldest wooden artifacts discovered in Australia. Additionally, the research team and community members were concurrently analyzing an ethnographic report by the 19th-century anthropologist Alfred Howitt, who extensively studied the customs and traditions of tribes in south-eastern Australia in the 1880s.