Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

This is a cave in a cliff near the Buchan - Orbost road in Victoria. There is a rock shelter outside the cave, the roof of which is blackened, apparently from the campfires of past inhabitants. A short passage leads to the inner chamber. This has a high cathedral-like roof and the floor is dry.

Excavation of the floor under the rock shelter showed that it had been used for tool making, and the basal layer was dated to the last 1000 years. Inside the cave excavations found that it was first inhabited by humans 17,000 BP. It was probably used occasionally, but not as a permanent campsite.

See Aboriginal Occupation of south central Tasmania

Sources & Further reading

1. Josephine Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, J. B. Publishing
2. Phillip J. Habgood & Natilie R. Franklin, The revolution that didn't arrive: A review of Pleistocene Sahul, Journal of Human Evolution, 55, 2008

Links

1. Pleistocene Human Occupation and Extinct Fauna in Cloggs Cave, Buchan, South-east Australia
2. 8523 (8522)-24 The Thrust Fault Area
3. Pleistocene Man at Cloggs Cave: His Toolkit and Environment