AR
Unpublished. Edited for grammar and format.
by
Alexander Gallus
Dr. W. Grant Inglis
Director of Environment and Conservation
Department of Environment and Conservation.
Report, Koonalda Expedition January
The expedition to Koonalda in January
1. I
have completed my stratigraphic studies. The stratigraphy of the main Trench
III has been fully recorded, together with extension No.
–
2. The
investigation of the important workshop floor in extension to Trench III, No.
3. It can be stated in anticipation of the results of an analysis of the stone industries present in the cave, which I have already begun, that at least two different stone tool traditions can be discerned, which do not simply follow each other in the Stratigraphy, but alternate in the sequence.
I have already pointed out that the simplistic view, according
to which only one continent-wide prehistoric ‘culture’ existed in Australia,
and which is presently still widely held by archaeologists, cannot be
maintained. The two main industries in
1. I
must emphasize that the end, better to say the beginning of the stratigraphy of
the cave is not yet known, and older human occupation levels are to be expected
under the already known floors
This means that a more laborious attempt to reach the
depth of
2. One
of the main aims of the expedition was to record the so called ‘megalithic’
area, with the standing stele. This was done with the help of Mr. Joseph Szabó, a Hungarian artist, who drew the whole area to scale.
A final clearing of the area restored the human floor on which the stele
stands, which can be dated at around
The stele has been erected at the base of a large rockfall, which actually consists of several rockfalls, and which all occurred in the same area, now leaving a high dome in the ceiling of the cave.
This hill contains chalcedony nodules. The chalcedony has been mined, all around the periphery of the hill and also on its top. Mining was done with the aid of trenches and mining holes.
The ‘mana’ character of the mined area and of the cave-surrounding is clearly evident from the following observations, which have been recorded by detailed sketches and abundant photographic documentation.
The observations point to religious (psychologically determined) anxieties derived from a mythic-cognitive experience of the cave environment and which had to be allayed with ritualistic, propitiatory, and apotropaeie behavior.
The singularly lifelike, organic looking, white, smooth cortex surfaces and swelling forms of the large chalcedony nodules, which appear in the midst of the rockfalls, evoke even in the modern observer associations with living matter and an atmosphere of femininity. The more susceptible must have been prehistoric man, who found himself in a strange environment and uncanny darkness, in the deep cave full of unknown dangers. There must have been feelings of in security, transgression, and violation during his mining activity. An environment had to be recreated within the cave which seemed secure and protected and where he could set up his workshops. Traces of his precautions and cares are clearly apparent.
a. The
whole area in front of the rockfall, around the erected stele, appears swept clean,
with no mining refuse apparent. Outside this area breakages of workshop
activity appear.
b. Only
such chalcedony blocks have been broken down or hammered or have been formed
into quadrangular nuclei (simple quadrangular blocks) which show minimum articulation
of their surface, thus do not suggest organic form. The rest, which show
forcefully the above mentioned lifelike associations and appearance, have been
kept and carefully placed. The erect stele, which stands in the area in front
of the rockfall, has already been published. In cleaning the original surface,
a second stele buried in the soil beside it has been found.
c. All mining holes and trenches have been carefully filled in again, and all mining refuse has been placed back into the excavated hole when filling it in. (That is why there is no mining refuse in the area.)
The mining tools, which have been used, or perhaps some token mining tools (as some of them look mint), have been placed into the mining cavities during the process of infilling. The tools were either laid flat into the packing, horizontally, or they stand perpendicularly on their edge (large axes, pickaxes, ‘scoops’ or ‘shovels,’ choppers). In the top filling of one long mining trench (not yet excavated), large, heavy picks were found, deposited perpendicularly into the top filling of the trench. They have not been removed by us, but photographed and position noted.
Large chalcedony nodules, with articulated, ‘organic’ surfaces (as described above), have been spared and preserved and variously placed: laid flat over the edges, or over top of the excavated area, or else standing erect at the back of the mining hole. Several filled-in trenches were located by the expedition, but not excavated, so that the placement and the technique of filling in may be studied by independent observers. In those excavated, care was taken so that technical details of the construction of the infilling can still be observed.
Especially one mining hole behind the erect stele, which has been dug into the foot of the rockfall, shows suspicious constructional activity. Large blocks have been used to form a wall, and the hole which otherwise could not have been filled, was filled out with stone cobbles and mining refuse. Near the base of the mining, the mining tools were placed.
The first appearance of this wall, during the second last expedition, prompted me to call the construction, ‘megalithic.’ But the term ‘megalithic’ can no more be used and has to be dropped because of its connotation with funeral practices and rituals in the Neolithic. The said wall is very short and masks only the mining hole, which has been cut into the ascending slope of the rockfall. It continues the surface of a big, fallen, limestone rock, both forming a backdrop to the large erect stele in the forefront. They form a termination, with abrupt ascent, of the smooth surfaces in front of the hill on which the large stele has been placed.
This smooth surface is based on a layer of travertine, which was formed under standing water, and it is likely that the whole area stood at the edge of a small lake.
After excavation of the mining hole, I have again replaced these blocks according to plan drawings so that the backdrop-construction still appears in its original arrangement.
The inference cannot be avoided that the practicality, function, and reason for these arrangements and ritualistic placements must lie on a spiritual plane. In a forthcoming paper, I have called the placements of chalcedony nodules ‘protosculpture.’ I meant by this term that the strange forms evoked archetypal (mythic) associations, which then were projected back to the objects themselves. The objects became externalized symbols of ‘mana,’ or ‘spirit,’ or whatever spiritual presence was felt to be reigning in the cave.
Beside the mining area, towards and extending near to the wall of the cave, there was a large workshop, with widely spread remnants of workshop activity (not mining activity). The workshop was spread around three big nuclei at its center. This workshop was fully recorded and collected during a previous excavation. It stratigraphic relation to the floor on which the stele stands is fully known. It is somewhat later. Several continuous phases of human activity around the hill have been sorted out and recorded. Mining and ritual activity have continued here, down to the abandonment of the cave.
The presence of the workshop and its uncollected refuse proves that chalcedony blocks selected for tool making were no more regarded as numinous and did no more need any preservational or propiciatory rituals. They were already so to say ‘decontaminated’ and the workshop remains could remain uncared for in the workshop area. This points to the level of security, already mentioned, which had to be attained in order to be active in the cave and which has been secured by means of the above mentioned precautions and ritualistic behavior.
I can safely risk my credibility in stating that the whole
rockfall or hill still contains extremely important information on the
spiritual atmosphere surrounding the mining activity in the cave. This
information is unique in the prehistory of the Upper Paleolithic and matches
the significance of the cave sanctuaries of a similar age in
Only a small part of the available area has as yet been excavated.
There is further up the hill, a fallen, large slab of limestone which has overturned two, formerly standing stele. They are visible under the block. One stele has lost its ‘head,’ but this was recovered lower down during the excavation and has been restored to its original position.
Behind this arrangement, a large and long mining trench takes its origin and cuts across the top of the hill. The trench is still filled in as left behind by the miners, and we did not touch it; only photographs were taken. The trench ends against large fallen blocks of limestone at the center of the rockfall.
This time the expedition enjoyed the services of a skilled photographer so that many details mentioned in this report appear documented including stages during excavation.
I have already reported that during the second last expedition extensive line-carvings have been found on the smooth surfaces of limestone blocks in the NW Passage, between the walls bedecked with finger tracings and line-carvings. This new complex appears to be younger than the markings on the wall.
This time a short investigation revealed that the soft
limestone powder filling the interwalls between the
rocks extends to a certain depth and shows stratification. Carbon
Our investigation was extremely limited, so it cannot be said whether on the deeper surfaces the same features might be encountered. Stone tools or chips are not found on the surface and were not encountered deeper either. The limestone powder is sterile, but intermittently thin bands of charcoal and decayed wood appear. The impression is that from time to time intensive visits to the area occurred with remnants of torches, ash, and charcoal particles littering the floor.
It should be observed that human activity in this passage
has already ceased for two millennia, when the mining activity particularly
described under A-D was carried out. (NB: Mining in the cave is observable
right down to the oldest level reached. First sure signs of votive placements
of mining tools appear over level
I have had discussions with functionaries of the Australian
Institute of Aboriginal Studies, who have encouraged me to ask for an Institute
Fellowship so that I can order full time the material of past excavations for
storage in the
I am at last in the position to decide that I shall ask for
the Fellowship for the middle of the year
As I have already reported, one of the members of the
second-last expedition, Christine Sharpe, is pursuing an advanced course in
Anthropology at
Sincerely Yours
Dr. Alexander Gallus
Nunawading, Vic.