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Ritual Fireplaces date back 12,000 years

At the request of Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), a team of world-class scientists, researchers, and land managers from Monash University, the University of Queensland, the University of Adelaide, the University of Melbourne, the University of Waikato, the University of New England, the University of Savoy, together with Rock Art Australia have partnered to further explore the area around an unearthed ritual site in Clogg’s Cave, Gippsland.

These findings, of what appear to be ritual fireplaces are believed to date back at least 12,000 years, as they reflect the ritual installations documented in nineteenth-century ethnography.

For further reading about the discovery of the ritual fireplaces, you can download “Archaeological evidence of an ethnographically documented Australian Aboriginal ritual dated to the last ice age”, co-authored by (including) Russell Mullett and Bruno David, in Nature Human Behaviour.

READ IT HERE

12,000 year-old Aboriginal rock art from the Kimberley region, Western Australia

Nine months into this 5-year project, led by the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) with Professor Bruno David (Monash University) and coordinated by GunaiKurnai Elder Uncle Russell Mullett, the team is uncovering remarkable insights into the archaeology and rock art of the limestone country near Buchan, East Gippsland (Victoria). Their discoveries offer a rare and powerful glimpse into the physical and spiritual practices of the GunaiKurnai’s old people, capturing ancient gestures and cultural knowledge preserved in stone.

On Monday July 2028, THE CONVERSATION published ‘Precious finger traces from First Nations ancestors revealed in a glittering mountain cave in Australia‘ which describes the findings of over 950 ancient finger grooves made by GunaiKurnai ancestors thousands of years ago. These impressions, preserved in soft, glitter-coated cave walls, are thought to be ritual gestures made by mulla-mullung spiritual healers who entered the deep cave with firelight. The grooves reflect deliberate, sacred movements, some even made by children lifted to the ceiling, and are not linked to domestic activity. This discovery offers a rare and powerful glimpse into the physical and spiritual practices of First Nations peoples, capturing their gestures and cultural knowledge in stone.

READ IT HERE

Image: Recording the finger grooves in the field. (top): Madeleine Kelly checking on-site each finger groove on the photogrammetric model on a tablet. (bottom): GunaiKurnai Elder Uncle Russell Mullett discussing methods and emerging results of the photogrammetric processing with Olivia Rivero Vilá and Diego Garate Maidagan in the field work tent (photos by Bruno David, courtesy of the GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation).

The Earth Above

The Earth Above is an extraordinary immersive full-dome experience weaving together ancient knowledge, deep memory, and cutting-edge technology.

Watch the video recording of the creators of The Earth Above: A Deep Time View of Australia’s Epic History taking audiences at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2025 behind the scenes and into the world of the Mulla-mullung (clever men and women) of Cloggs Cave.

Image on left: On stage, Uncle Russell Mullett, Bruno David, and the remarkable Pappin family from Mutthi Mutthi Country reflected on what it means to carry these stories beyond Country and into new spaces.

Site Visit

In early September, 2024, project partners, of the new Australian Research Council five-year project: Before and after the Last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy, including  lead researcher, and RAA Science Advisory Council member, Professor Bruno David met at the foothills of the Australian Alps, at the invitation of Russell Mullett and his team at Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), and the Gunaikurnai Traditional Owner Land Management Board.

The delegation was invited to explore significant sites, including Steamer Landing and Sperm Whale Head on the Gippsland Lakes, Eagle Point Bluff, Buchan Caves Reserve (one of 14 national parks and reserves jointly managed by GLaWAC and Parks Victoria), and Cloggs Cave. This area is notably home to the remarkable discovery of two small, perfectly preserved fireplaces that reflect the ritual installations documented in nineteenth-century ethnography, confirming ritual activity dating back at least 12,000 years.

At the request of  GLaWAC, the project, Before and after the Last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy has now brought together a team of world-class scientists, researchers, and land managers from Monash University, the University of Queensland, the University of Adelaide, the University of Melbourne, the University of Waikato, the University of New England, the University of Savoy, and Rock Art Australia to further explore the area around the unearthed ritual site.

The project include on-Country community cultural heritage research training and public education initiatives.

Published Papers

Finger flutings at New Guinea II Cave, lower Snowy River valley (Victoria), GunaiKurnai country

Madeleine Kelly, Bruno David, Olivia Rivero Vilá, Diego Garate Maidagan, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Russell Mullett, Jessie Birkett-Rees, Fiona Petchey, Aoife Barker, Lee J. Arnold, Helen Green, Joanna Fresløv, GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation 

Events, trends and the ‘Pompeii Premise’: Telling stories of the Old Ancestors in Australian archaeology

Bruno David, Jessie Birkett-Rees, Ashleigh J. Rogers, Fiona Petchey, Amy Mosig Way, Russell Mullett, Joanna Fresløv, Augustine Unghangho, Ian Waina, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, & GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation

Cloggs Cave pollen sequences, GunaiKurnai Country, East Gippsland (SE Australia): 25,000 years of cultural plant use and changing environments

Elle Grono, Bruno David, Janelle Stevenson, Joanna Fresløv, Russell Mullett, Benedict Keaney, Catriona Graham, Jeremy Ash, GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, Matthew C. McDowell, Fiona Petchey, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Ashleigh J. Rogers, David M. Kennedy

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