Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

Fern Cave

This is a large cave with 2 high-domed chambers, with an occupation site going back at least 26,000 years. There are a few heavily painted peckings on the wall adjacent to the excavation, that includes a series of loosely clustered pits, a star shape, and 3- to 4- pronged motifs, resembling 'tridents' or bird tracks. These have been demonstrated to be similar to other peckings from Chillagoe, Mitchell-Palmer Region, Laura Region and Koolburra region, which are believed to be very old, based on the degree of patination and the nature of the superimpositions.

The lowest layer in this deposit has been dated to 26,010 +/- 410 BP, but it is believed the deposit actually extends back to about 30,000 BP according to extrapolation based on the age-depth curve. (David, 1991).

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