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THE UPPER CHAMBER OF KOONALDA CAVE, SOUTH AUSTRALIA

by

Kevin J. Sharpe

ABSTRACT. This paper describes the upper chamber of Koonalda Cave in which 19,000 years B.P. what appears to be rituals were performed. These entailed non-representational finger marking and engraving of the cave walls, engraving and arranging of the rocks on the cave floor, and the deposition of animal parts, all under light of torches some of whose remains are where they were left on the tops of boulders. It is suggested that the whole of the upper chamber was so used, even though more recent rockfalls cover the majority of evidence for it. It is also suggested that the boulders on the floor weather by a process called exsudation to become smooth and rounded, the surfaces on which engravings are found.

Introduction

Koonalda Cave is a well-known limestone feature of the Nullarbor Plain of South Australia. It has been the subject of many scientific investigations starting with the visits of G. W. Hunt and L. A. Wells in 1904 (Wells and Hunt 1919), if not of R. McCullough in 1892 (McCullough 1979), and including the extensive archaeological excavations of Alexander Gallus (Gallus 1964, 1966, 1968a-d, 1971, 1977), and of a multidisciplinary expedition mounted by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (Wright 1971a-d; for other archaeological articles on Koonalda Cave, see Pretty 1960, Pretty and Gallus 1967, Wigley 1966, and Cox 1960).

The majority of the cave floor (see figure 1 and Thomson 1949: 49-50) is in the two passages which contain lakes, but the section of the cave in which my interest lies is in another passage, now dry, called the northwest passage. It is in two levels. The first and lower level is called the Gallus site, where most of Gallus’s excavations have been performed. The higher level is called the upper chamber (see figure 2). The steep 30-meter ascent from the Gallus site to it is along a windy and often crumbly path, reaching the top at a series of large rocks looking like “ramparts” over-looking the Gallus site. The remainder of the walk to the end of the upper chamber is not really a walk; it is a clamber over and around large boulders. It descends a little and then ascends to the highest point of the path, to what is called the “directional stele” (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 127). It then passes nearly level, descending a little, to another steep face of 10 meters that overlooks the end of this passage at the “squeeze,” a 30-centimeter-high, five-meter-long channel. Once one is through the “squeeze” one is on a small platform 18 meters above a lake, the end of the western arm of the cave.

In 1973, I was part of an expedition lead by Gallus and I changed to drawing and photographing the finger markings on the walls toward the rear of the upper chamber. While making my way to my assigned portion of the cave on one occasion, I noticed engravings on the floor boulders. Further investigation revealed a large number of engraved boulders, plus torch stubs sitting on the tops of the boulders presumably where they had been left by the prehistoric cave users, and bones either sitting on rocks, or hidden under rocks in the floor of the cave. My preliminary mapping of the engraved boulders at that stage led us to visualize the upper chamber as a series of pathways flanked by engravings (Sharpe and Sharpe 1973: figure 2); I now interpret it more broadly.

Sometime after my first visit to Koonalda I was privileged to meet Alexander Marshack, who explained to me his methodology for looking at similar engravings in Europe (Marshack 1972a-c, 1975, 1976a,b, 1977, 1979). His enthusiasm for Koonalda was probably one of the chief reasons for the National Geographic Society agreeing to support the return visit to apply his techniques to the Koonalda engravings. The South Australian Museum acted as co-sponsors, and our party of six left at the beginning of January 1976 for three weeks in the field. We comprised Alexander Gallus, Neil Chadwick (of the South Australia Museum), Ian Lewis, Kevin Mott (both cave explorers and surveyors), Christine Whitehead, and myself.

While our aim on the 1976 expedition was to document more thoroughly the boulder engravings and the smooth rounded boulders on which they are found, I realized something once I was there that created a new perspective on the upper chamber: the whole floor of the upper chamber (not just the portion of it whose surface comprises smooth rounded boulders) was in fact of smooth rounded boulders and human use, even if the majority of it had been covered with more recent rockfalls. That is, the floor of the upper chamber was the result of a number of different rock falls of various ages, the oldest of which was now smoothed and rounded. In this, prehistoric peoples have performed their rituals and made their engravings, often altering the surface of the floor. But most of the rockfall and its human evidence are now hidden under more recent rock fall. This report attempts to establish this point, to describe the floor of the upper chamber and its artifacts from this perspective, as well as to document the boulder engraving.

Two words of caution need to be given. The first is an apology to those who might be seeking a complete archaeological history of the upper chamber. This is a report from the perspective just described of work carried out to the present, and is not a final documentation of these 2000 square meters of human ritual center. Moreover, we often left our finds where we found them and so careful artifactual classifications have not been made (the artifacts which have been removed are in the South Australian Museum). All the time our understanding of the upper chamber is increasing and as full a picture as possible should be had before irreversible archaeological investigations begins.

The second word of caution results from the fact that the deposit is mostly surface (if not under massive rock falls), and so is easily damaged, and has been by people who did not know what is there and have walked over artifacts, crushing bones, torches, and erasing engravings, even poking holes into engraved walls and rocks. The crushing of artifacts under foot happens easily, as they are covered with a layer of dust and hard to see in the dark. The cave is now rightly closed to all unauthorized people.

This paper is divided into two parts. The first describes the upper chamber’s floor as divided into the various rock falls, mentioning the artifact finds and the changes people have made to the floor of the chamber. The second part of the paper discusses the engravings themselves. The division of the chamber into rockfalls is a visual one based on different degrees of weathering, the sequence of which starts at the “ramparts” end of the “squeeze” (see plate 1 for photographs of the upper chamber, and figure 2 for the layout of the upper chamber divided into rockfalls).

-insert plate 2-

The hypothesis in that rockfalls C and F are the oldest, followed by A and D, and then most recently, B and E; C and F are of smooth and rounded boulders that are engraved, and underlie all the other rockfalls.

Part One: Description of the Upper Chamber

Rockfall C. The Smooth Rounded Boulders

On the 1973 expedition to Koonalda, what is now called rockfall C was the most extensively investigated, and in fact is where the majority of boulder engravings are found. As can be seen from figure 3, it is not regularly shaped and its boundaries are sometimes hard to distinguish from its neighboring rockfalls which are probably of more recent origins. Further southwest half this is especially so. It runs from the top of the climb to the upper chamber almost as far back as the “directional stele” and from one wall to the other. The boulders of rockfall C vary considerably in shape and size, but are smooth and rounded, at least on their upper sides, and generally have a firm surface which can be marked by fingernails but not by a light touch. It is on such smooth surfaces that the engravings are found, but the boulders are often covered with a thick dust that overlies the engravings on them.

-insert figure 3-

This area of smooth rounded boulders is by far the most humanly used of the present surface of the upper chamber. In my first report on the upper chamber – after my first visit to Koonalda – I saw the upper chamber chiefly as a series of pathways defined and delineated by engraved boulders. Now we see its use as far more complex, comprising the construction and ritual use of activity areas, the engraving of rocks and walls, the deposition of bones, the placing of torches for illumination, the use of pathways, and so on.

In describing the human use of the upper chamber, I have had to adopt a terminology which may at times be confusing. Terms such as “area” and “floor” are used in a casual geographical way. The term “rockfall” is obvious, but note that the ordering of the various rockfalls of the upper chamber, A through F is a strictly geographical order from the “rampart” to the “squeeze”; it says nothing of the relative historical age of the rockfalls (figure 2). A term such as “activity area” is archaeological suggesting the use of that section of the cave floor, albeit perhaps some millimeters below the present surface by prehistoric Aborigines for some activity or other. Many geographical features and activity areas are named with more humane terms, such as “cavern,” “Chadwick’s Hole,” and so forth. At this point, it is probably also appropriate to mention the grid reference system used in figure3 to number rocks and activity areas. Take, for instance, the grid square E4; in it are rocks E4-a and E4-b, the last letters applied with no particular sequence in mind, and activity area E4-I; letter postscripts are applied to rocks, and Roman numerals to activity areas.

-insert plate 2

Activity Area F6-I (see figure 3 and plate 2). In our previous report, Whitehead and I mentioned the “elephant head” rock in an area designation P2 (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 128-29) between what we saw as two pathways 15-8 and 7-8. This rock is part of what we now see as activity area F6-I.

Activity area F6-I is approximately 2.5m x 1.5m and overlooks, past a few small and partially engraved stones on its southeastern end, a geographical area we have called the “amphitheatre,” some 3 meters below it. On its northeastern side is a large engraved boulder (whose engravings are rather deteriorated), and behind this, the floor of the cave drops sharply into a sort of pit some 4 meters deep (see figure3), and in which are found engravings pictured in my previous report (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 128, and Gallus 1977: plate 2). The northwestern side of Activity Area F6-I is half enclosed by the well engraved “elephant head” rock, F6-b, shaped as its name suggests, with its trunk reaching onto the periphery of the floor (see figure3 and plate 3).

-insert plates 3 and 4-

Between the “elephant head,” and a medium sized rock, E6-a, also engraved, on the south-western edge, are a small number of stones, some of which appear loose and rough (see plate 4), and which are the major piece of evidence for the categorizing this near circle of stones as an activity area. (Note that the engravings themselves will not be discussed in any detail in this paper, but are the subject of other reports). The stones, which form this edge of the floor include small rounded stones whose crystalline surfaces are not downwards in contrast with those of almost all other rocks here in the upper chamber; that is, these rocks are not in their original positions. Moreover, as can be seen in plate 4, they cover a well-defined series of engravings on rock E6-a to the point of actually touching the engravings. The most obvious explanation of this is the intentional construction of the floor by prehistoric people.

When this was constructed is not apparent. There may have been a particular period in which the various constructions we have noticed in the upper chamber (including the series of activity areas in rockfall D) were accomplished, but it could be that construction was an ever-present part of the use of the cave (see Gallus 1971: 112-23).

Activity Area G6-I. The second activity area to be mentioned is near to what we defined in 1973 as the point 8, and is at the foot of rockfall D (see plate 5 and figure 3).

-insert plate 5-

As such, its smooth rounded boulders back onto and in some instances are covered by the rougher rockfall D (see figure 2). Helping define the activity area two piles of stones (one on the south-eastern edge and one on the north-western edge), and it may well be that the southeastern pile especially has been so placed in the process of clearing and creating the activity area. On this pile of stones are pieces of wood and charcoal, the latter of which is found abundantly over the activity area.

Activity Area E5-I. On the 1973 expedition, at the point where path 3-4 left path 7-8 we found three pieces of bone, the longest, presumably part of a large marsupial shoulder blade, was about 15 centimeters long and half buried in the dust (see figure 3). In my revised perspective of the upper chamber, these pieces of bone are very near the entrance of activity area E5-I, at least near the southeastern entrance to the activity area, which can be seen as the far end of plate 6.

-insert plate 6-

As can also be seen from plate 6, this activity area, measuring approximately 2m x 2.5m, is on two levels, the southwestern section being smaller and hollowed, separated from the north-eastern half by a small hump. The rocks that form the southwestern boundary (on the right side of the plate) are of two types: rounded and smoothed boulders (the very end of the larger one can be seen on the right of plate 6 and the smaller one is at the other end of the row of rocks and has a lens cap on it), and smaller smoothed rocks that have their jagged undersides showing; in other words, these rocks have been placed along that side. Behind these rocks is activity area E4-I to be discussed later on, but which is interesting for it centers on a “cache” containing several vertebrae and engraved plaques.

The stones in the foreground of plate 6 demark the northwestern end of activity area E5-I. These too may have been placed and it may be that the stone halfway down the slope from this end of the floor has recently slipped (or been knocked off) from the top because it shows no sign of settling into the floor it is on and there is a space for it with the line of other stones. This line of rocks separates activity areas E5-I and E5-II. The large rounded boulder, whose nose appears on the very right of the plate, has been vandalized, since, as may be seen on the plate, a pair of deep lines has been cut into the stone, (presumably with a handpick) and further up the stone, a hole has been cut for what looks like a candleholder.

Activity Area E4-I. As reported previously (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 127), on the southeastern side of rocks E4-a, E4-b, and E4-c (they were named 1M, 1K, and 1L respectively), a curved opening enters into the boulder floor of the cave (see figure 3). This opening was found to contain a number of vertebrae and was covered with a flat stone (which was ill-fitting and wobbled when stood on; hence the find) (see plate 7).

-insert plate 7-

We called this a “cache,” and, on our second visit, Chadwick investigated it further. (The following is taken from Chadwick’s notes; when such utterances are made in the future, I be prefix them by “after Chadwick.”) The four vertebrae were in dust (see plate 8) and resting on a rough piece of rock, the removal of which exposed smaller pieces of rough pebbles. Three centimeters of earth later and there was a piece of engraved limestone, which was drawn and later replaced. It was 6cm x 9cm and engraved on one side with a series of four pairs of parallel lines (see figure 4a). Subsequently there was also found another piece of engraved rock 6cm x 9cm (see figure 4b; compare these two engraved plaques with others found in Koonalda and the Devil’s Lair Cave – see Gallus 1971: plate 1X-6, and Dortch 1976).

-insert plate 8-

After removing dust and loose pebbles, the cave floor around the “cache” was drawn and more thoroughly investigated for stratigraphy. It was found (after Chadwick) that the surface rocks were flat and wedged together so that they were difficult to remove. They are in fact cintered together. The floor itself was covered with red dust. Underneath some of the looser of these rocks, were twigs and carbon in places where there is no present access for their having slipped from the surface. The stratigraphic sequence appears to be: surface of animal droppings (bats, etc), gray dust and carbon, wood rosa dust, red dust, rock. Underneath two rocks in the activity area the stratigraphy was found to be: rock covering; twigs, bone, and animal droppings; gray dust intermingled with animal droppings; fine red dust; and flat base rocks.

These minor investigations do not tell us much about the human use of the floor. One could suggest, however, that the engraved plaques were placed in the “cache,” covered over with layers of pebbles and dust, the vertebrae deposited, and finally the “cache” covered over with a flat stone. One could also suggest that the floor around the “cache” was intentionally constructed to be reasonably flat and round (or before) a large engraved smooth and rounded boulder. A more extensive excavation was carried out in 1975 between E4-b and the “cache,” and this gives a good deal more information on the local stratigraphy (see figures J and 6) (after Michael Smith).

-insert figures 5 and 6-

The excavation went down at least 40 centimeters (in some places being stopped by rocks), and comprised a 10cm x 10cm test trench and a main excavation of about one-third of a square meter. The following is a summary of the stratigraphic sequence:

·      Level 1 comprised one to two centimeters of loose surface material in which were patches of unconsolidated fine grayish-pinkish soil. In it were also bat bones and carbon (which was collected mainly from the gray unit).

·      Level 2 comprised consolidated red soil in which there was a lens of gray material. In this level (which was three centimeters deep in the test trench) was a large piece of carbon, perhaps burned torch, which was surrounded by smaller pieces of carbon.

·      Level 3 comprised a number of different lenses and layers and was five centimeters deep in the test trench. It appeared sooner on the E4-b side of the trench than on the E4-c. There was a pale, very compact, perhaps even laminated sand, even closer to the E4-b side. This level comprised a light red-brown speckled soil in which there were thin bands of a dark chocolate brown, very fine material (almost like an ochre; they may have even been layers of bat guano) that appeared mottled and seemed to cling to the rocks.

·      Level 4 comprised a fine, light-pink soil, which was unconsolidated. Within it lay a number of the rocks. Fine crystalline droplets were found in the lower part of the level (plus gravel and small pebbles up to a centimeter in diameter, and fine dark-red lenses). It seems to continue down and is not excavated to its full depth in the main trench but, in the test trench, it was ten centimeters deep.

·      Level 5 comprised a fine, unconsolidated white soil and was found only in the test hole where it was ten centimeters deep. Carbon was found in all levels except these lower ones.

The “Amphitheatre.” Not much more can be said about the 1973 path 3-4 at present which was not said in our previous report, except that there are a number of paths down the steep slope and that this section of the upper chamber could be thought of more as an “amphitheatre” overlooking a large slab like an “altar” or “monument” stele (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 127). The main value in these subjective names is to help visualize the area (see plate 9 and figure 3).

-insert plate 9-

Suppose we move down the 1973 path from 3 to 4, from the northwestern top of the slope down the slope and towards the southeast to about rocks D6-a and D6-b or to the side of D6-c and D6-d, and then in the other direction, completing the descent to the large “altar” stele D6-e. The path passes by rock D6-f that features the series of interconnected, smoothed tunnels mentioned in the previous report (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 128). The floor around the “altar” stele is of large crevices. On its northwestern side is the edge of the huge boulder on which are the activity areas including F6-I, and on this side of which are a number of fine examples of the boulder engravings (a photograph of a section of this is plate II in Sharpe and Sharpe 1976).

Continuing around the north-western side of D6-e, brings us to the north-eastern side of the large slab on which is activity area F6-I, which forms one side of a narrow chamber some four meters long, and which was described as a sort of pit, when activity area F6-I was discussed above. On the slab wall of the chamber are two lines which emerge from a natural hole and run down the face of the rock for 20 centimeters, as was also mentioned in the previous report (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 128; see also Gallus 1977: plate 1). On the wall side of this chamber, are a series of very deep and rough-looking engravings (which could be what Edwards and Maynard describe as a “short set of very deep parallel finger marking … deeper than any others observed in the cave…[and which] seem more eroded than usual” (Maynard and Edwards 1971: 67)), but which recently have been interfered with by digging at their base.

In the wall beside the stele D6-e, is a deposit of red ochre and, on the stele itself, is a pocket containing charcoal ends (see Gallus 1977: plate 9), but destroyed by somebody’s foot since I last saw them. Both of these were mentioned in our previous report (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 127). Pieces of wood can also be found on the slope. We also mentioned previously a flat – topped rock that looks like a “work bench” and standing between paths 3-4 and 5-6. This is now called D5-a and sits at the top of the slope overlooking the “amphitheatre” (see figure 3). The flakes of chalcedony mentioned on this “bench” are amorphous, but may have been used for engraving lines (a flake which more than likely was an engraving tool was found on activity area G5-I and will be discussed later).

The “Terrace.” A gentle “terraced” slope from the centerline of the upper chamber down to the wall (see plate 9 and figure 3) was previously identified as path 5-6. It is bounded on the northwest by a similar slope of engraved rounded boulders (the “amphitheatre”), but the “terrace” generally comprises smaller boulders or just dirt. The majority of the foot of the slope is relatively new rock collapse (rockfall B, see figure 3) and this too helps separate the “terrace” from the “amphitheatre. In prehistoric times, however, it may well be that this whole area could have been considered as one, bound on the northwest by the huge boulder on which lies the activity areas such as F6-I, and on the southeast by the “ramparts,” the beginning of the upper chamber and sloping from the center of the upper chamber, along which goes the path through the upper chamber, down to the wall. The southeastern side is at present bounded by another collapse (rockfall A), some of the rocks of which lie on the smooth rounded boulders of the “terrace” (for instance, they lie on C6-a and C6-b. This slope is described as “terraced,” for it is a number of rocks holding back the dirt, a very red dust. One of the rocks on the slope (down-hill from C5-a; not all the rocks are marked on figure 3) appears to have been dislodged recently, for there is a hole beside it in which it would fit, and its crystalline bottom is now a side (see plate 8).

Activity Area C5-I. I have specifically called two places activity areas, although a number of other parts of the “terrace” might be similarly labeled. Activity area C5-I was begging for the name, as it was here that one of the most impressive finds of the 1973 expedition was made: a large (15cm) torch, charred on one end, thickly coated with dust, and sitting on a boulder (see plate 10, Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 127, and Gallus 1977: plate 8). On the floor underneath this torch was a considerable amount of charcoal.

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Activity Area D5-I. This is further up the slope and is narrow, being about 1m x2.5m in dimensions, but overlooks the slope down to the wall. It is in fact right beside the main path through the upper chamber. There is a considerable amount of wood on this floor.

The crevice C4-a goes into the cave floor beside the rock of that number (see figure 3). It was also mentioned in the previous report (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 128), but a diagram of it is included here (figure 7).

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It may well be that this is an entrance to the area of the smooth and rounded boulders as found in rockfall C, but covered over by a rockfall now seen as rockfall A. I discuss this further when I consider the latter rockfall.

Hole Beside Rock C4-b. Beside rock C4-b (see figure 3) there is a horizontal hole under the rocks. This hole drew our attention first because on a rock that forms part of the floor of this hole was the remains of an insect (for a thorough discussion on Nullarbor Cave insects, see Richards 1977). But more interesting at present is a series of lines at the very back of this tight hole and which would have been extremely difficult to reach. These will also be discussed in more detail when rockfall A is considered.

The “Cavern.” Our 1973 path 9-10 goes from the center of the upper chamber to what we called the “cavern” (see figure 3 and Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 128), a deep closet-type of hole into the cave floor near the wall. At this point, there is deposit of red ochre in the wall, and the surface of the floor of the cave is of white dust. There is a slope immediately before the entrance to the “cavern,” and this is well engraved (rocks D2-c and D2-d), as is the “snake head” rock (D2-b) and its mate (D2-a) at the entrance to the “cavern” (see Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: plate III, and see also plate 11 and figure 3).

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In fact, these two rocks marking the entrance to the “cavern” have on them some of the most striking engraving found in the upper chamber.

This wedge-shaped horizontal opening into the floor of the cave is about four meters long and 1m x 1m at its entrance. Its opening goes into the large end of the wedge, the very head of the wedge being the two starkly engraved rocks D2-a and D2-b. One enters the “cavern” between D2-c and D2-e, its tail or thin edge reaching under D2-? and C2-a. On its floor were found wood, charcoal, animal droppings, a small amount of bone, and the remains of various insects. There are more engravings about halfway down the inside of the “cavern” too.

Besides the engravings at the “cavern’s” entrance, the most intriguing thing about this little cave is its floor. This is an infill of loose and small rubble, not cintered or crystalline. The question is whether these rocks have been placed in here or whether they have fallen or rolled in naturally. There is no apparent place for the rocks to fall through into the “cavern” with its present roof, and if somehow they fell in from the front entrance area on would expect a hill or mound up to the fall-in point, or which there is no evidence. And how did they even themselves off along the four or so meters of the “cavern” floor to be more or less flat? One could suggest that the stones were there and that prehistoric peoples placed the massive and engraved rocks at the entrance. One could also suggest, (and not require such super-human efforts) that the infill was placed there in the empty “cavern,” or that it is the result of some rockfall which at a later stage saw the roof of the “cavern” also fall into place (which is unlikely as D2-a is probably of the original smooth rounded boulder floor). This needs to be fully investigated. The prehistoric users of the upper chamber were not averse to hiding particular objects; perhaps they have hidden something in the “cavern” underneath the floor rubble.

The “Fireplace.” Just to the northeast of D2-f was found and excavated a “fireplace” (see figure 8 and figure 3) (after Chadwick). On the surface, covered with whitedust, were pieces of rock on which were the tooth, claw and leg bone of an animal, probably a wallaby; it is possible that the claw was an engraving tool. Between the pieces of rock, but not under them, were the bones (some burned) of small animals and birds; since they were not under the rocks presumably they have fallen there after the rocks were placed or fallen on the wallaby remains. Continuing down the “fireplace”: five centimeters of rosa dust within which were dispersed bones large and small, and large pieces of charcoal and wood; five centimeters of impacted large pebbles and gravel-like mixture, dispersed in which were smaller amount of charcoal and bones; ten centimeters of large rocks still in the rosa dust; twenty-one centimeters of larger rocks, and eight centimeters of the floor of rosa dust.

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“Chadwick’s Hole.” Since, as will be mentioned, we named a hole on the northeast wall after Robert Edwards who (with Lesley Maynard) describes it in papers on the cave, we thought it apt to name a hole on the other side of the cave after its present-day finder, Neil Chadwick (see figure 3). Like “Edwards Hole,” “Chadwick’s Hole” is also in the original floor of smooth rounded boulders and goes down as a continuation of the wall of the cave. It descends behind the rocks against the wall and directly opposite rock D2-f, going down some five meters in three levels (after Chadwick) (see figure 9). There is rosa dust throughout this hole, but near the walls white dust predominates. The entrance is a small hole and takes one down to the first level, a sort of slope on which one can nestle and contort one’s body through its rough rocks. The second and main level opens out and is relatively large, approximately 3m x 2m x 2.5m, and horizontal so that a person can stand in it (see plate 12). In it is a beautifully engraved rounded smooth boulder. The third level opens off a hole in the floor of the second level and goes down some 2.5 meters. Above it, in the smooth and soft wall, are deep and eroded engravings. It is also engraved around its edge.

-insert figure 9 and plate 12-

Chadwick crawled above and over the jagged rubble, up through the top of the hole towards its roof, and reported that the smooth surfaces of the fallen rubble were engraved. It appeared to him that only the surfaces that are smooth and turned outwards are engraved. The jagged surfaces are not engraved, but the rubble could have been engraved after it had fallen.

Individual Rocks and Wall. There are an almost innumerable number of engraved boulders within rockfall C, which have not been mentioned so far in association with other features. One much photographed is rock F6-c, which on the northwestern wall side of activity areas G6-I and II. The wall too is heavily engraved around this point (these are incised lines on sections of the wall called by Edwards and Maynard, “N. E. Wall Sections 2 and 3; see Maynard and Edwards 1971: 67). Two other features in this part of rockfall C were mentioned in our previous report: one floor hole near 8 in G6 of figure 3), and a rock F6-d lying on the surface near the wall which appears like a torso (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 128-29) (see plate 13, figure 3 and figure 10). One could also mention a considerable number of further activity areas, such as activity area F5-I which has three vertebrae and what may be a shoulder blade beside it.

-insert plate 13 and figure 10-

Rockfalls A and B

The thesis being propounded is that the upper chamber of Koonalda Cave was at one stage wholly of smooth rounded boulders that were used by people for engraving surfaces, and in conjunction with which they performed ritual acts. Onto this floor have fallen various rock collapses at different times, some of which have also been used by prehistoric Aborigines. The proof for this thesis will come gradually as we look under the rockfalls. At this stage we are confronted with an area of the upper chamber called rockfall A (see figure 2), which may have had some human use, but nowhere near as much, if at all, as rockfall C, comprising the smooth rounded boulders. The rocks which comprise the floor of rockfall A, are fairly smoothed and often have a reddish dust on them, but they are not as rounded as are their companions of rockfall C, and despite the many suitable places for engraving on them, they are not engraved. On our 1973 exploration of the cave, we defined the northwestern segment of this area as path 13-14 (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: figure 2), but it is difficult again to consider this area of the upper chamber as a path since there are various ways of moving across it.

Two possible activity areas, B2-I and C2-I, lie on a sort of plateau of the rockfall and may have had human use. Access to them is gained from the “cavern” up the dust slope beside C2-a and C2-b, and around C2-b. Underneath two loose floor rocks on activity area C2-I were found two amorphous chalcedony flakes and a number of twigs. The Gallus-site side of the two rocks B2-a, C2-a, two of the “ramparts,” show faint engravings (are these old smooth and rounded boulders?). Between C3-a, C3-b, and D3-a is a collection of dead insects. One is struck when standing between D3-a, D3-c, and C3-b on the one side, and D4-a, D4-b, and D4-c on the other, of the difference between the two sets of rocks. The ones on the northeast are large, rounded and engraved, whereas the others are usually small, more jagged and not engraved,

The northeastern side of rockfall A appears as an old rockfall that is weathering, and lies between the central pathway and the northeastern wall, and the “terrace” and the “ramparts.” There are some marks on this section of the fall near the wall, but if these are human markings little can be said about them because of their badly deteriorated state. The rocks here are covered with reddish dirt and are quite smooth.

There is an obviously much more recent and smaller rockfall, rockfall B, against the wall and a little further up the chamber that the older rockfall A. The only parts of this collapse that are engraved appear to be those slabs which have fallen from the walls, and it is probable that these were engraved as the wall. There are also some rather unusual engravings here that seem more like the runes of Tolkein than the other engravings in Koonalda Cave (there are other similar markings on rough boulders near the “squeeze”). Beside the wall is a large floor hole we call “Edwards’ Hole” since it appears to be one he and Maynard described in this area of the upper chamber (Maynard and Edwards 1971: 64).

Rockfall A does, however, appear to cover the older area of engraved smooth and rounded boulders in that we can find such rocks with engravings on them underneath it. There are four examples of this we found accidentally and not deliberately. The first is on the slope to the upper chamber from the Gallus site: engravings can be seen on the boulders protruding about two thirds of the way up the slope and these are smooth boulders. They may well be the forward remains of the engraved smooth and rounded boulder floor. Secondly, on the vary last day of the 1976 expeditions stay at Koonalda, a roll of exposed film fell between two rocks from the large boulder slab on the top of the “ramparts” B4-a (see figure 3). It could be seen down among the rocks but was just out of reach. Small stones were removed and a thin person squeezed in to retrieve the film, only to find a large vertical face of engravings (see plate 14). This was some four or so meters of squeezing under the floor.

-insert plate 14-

Two features that show engravings under rockfall A were mentioned previously, crevice C4-a and the hole beside rock C4-b. The second of these warrants a further mention. It comprises two rocks forming the sides, another forming the back, and yet another forming the ceiling; it is a horizontal hole and is looked through from the northeastern end. There are engravings on the upper side of one of the lower rocks and the ceiling is on top forming a few centimeters of wedge through which one can see the engravings. This arrangement of rocks, the top ones having fallen into their present position on top of engraved smooth and rounded boulders, looks even more convincing from the southwestern side. In fact, it looks like a series of rounded engraved boulders covered with fall roughish non-engraved boulders.

Rockfall D

Rockfall D appears to be the second most recent collapse (see figures 2 and 3) in which there has been human activity, although there is little engraving within it (one example of engraving on this rubble can be seen on activity area G6-I, on a rock whose other side helps define activity area G5-II). It contains the greater part of what was called path 15-8 (as defined in Sharpe and Sharpe 1976: 127-28), and the “directional stele.” Many bones have also been found in this area. It may well be the last rockfall utilized by Aborigines before the more massive rockfall E and the cave’s abandonment. It is obvious, by looking at the edges of this area, that it is rough rubble fallen onto the smooth and rounded boulders.

-insert plate 15-

Activity Area G5-I (see plate 15, a photograph into the south-eastern half of activity area G5-I, and figure 11). As can be seen in plate 15, the rockfall has been mostly cleared from this activity area, and piled up around its edge. Its “entrance” is between two smooth rounded boulders, G4-a and G5-a, on the right side of the photograph, and which lie at the side of the main path, 1-2, through the upper chamber. The activity area is “exited” by an opening in the stone wall around it about the center-left of the photograph. This leads onto other activity areas in rockfall D. The rocks G4-a and G5-a are sparsely engraved on their southwestern side, but are not engraved on their activity area G5-I side apart from two lines pecked into this face of G5-a. As also can be seen from the photograph, half of the area, the southeastern half, is at a lower level, and in fact appears to have been scooped out. At its extreme west, just a little below the base of the photograph, is what also appears as a “cache,” a flattish piece of rock balancing on top of two side rocks, some 40 centimeters high. Inside are a few pieces of wood.

On the southeastern edge of the activity area a twenty-five centimeter square was excavated in 1975 and taken down five centimeters to the limestone rock base (after Smith). The surface level 1 of about one centimeter comprised fine gray soil in which were carbon and bones. Level 2 of 1-2 centimeters was of consolidated pink soil, similar to but not quite as consolidated as level 2 in the trench by rock E4-b (page 13? above). It contained several large pieces of charcoal, wood, burnt wood, pebbles, and a rodent jaw. Level 3 was of a very dark chocolate-red loam similar to the chocolate-brown bands in level 3 in the trench by rock E4-b. it varied in thickness from a few millimeters above the rock floor to solid pockets five centimeters deep in crevices in the rocks. It contained carbon. Level 4 was deep in the crevices of the limestone floor and comprised a white unconsolidated matrix (see figure12). It also contained carbon. The floor itself was of packed decomposing limestone rocks – looking like cobbles – which was flat, giving the appearance of being laid. The stratigraphy is not unlike that found t activity area E4-I and in the trench beside rock E4-b.

-insert figure 12-

In 1976, Chadwick extended this investigation. He found charcoal in fine flakes embedded in the compact dust, and scattered over the whole floor. The stratigraphy Chadwick reported was: 0.5 centimeters of gray sterile dust; one centimeter of rosa dust; 0.5 centimeters of compacted dark-red, clay-like dust; uncintered rock and loose rubble with no evidence of crystalization and lying in coarse rosa dust. The two reports agree.

Chadwick also found a chalcedony flake in the compacted red dust (see figure 13). It is possible that this is an implement used for engraving. Gallus suggests (pers. comm.) that it is similar to a variety of fine burins he found in a level in trench II of the Gallus site, under what he calls “rough red” (see Gallus 1971).

-insert figure 13 and plate 16-

A number of bones have also been found on the activity area. The skull of a kangaroo without its mandible was found sitting on a rock not far off the floor (see plate 16a), and on the northwestern section of the activity area was found a small pocket of bones and a ten cm long cut or broken piece of bone. It is possible that the prehistoric users of the cave brought in these bones, or the pieces of animals of which these bones are the remains, along with similar bones we found in the upper chamber, for ritual purposes. (There are also in the upper chamber regularly occurring bones of small marsupials, birds, and bats; these presumably have a non-human source).

Activity Areas G5-II, III, IV, G6-III. These four activity areas have not been investigated as thoroughly as was G5-I. But they show similar characteristics: the placing of stones in a wall around their edges (especially G5-III, and between G5-II and activity area G6-I. Plate 17a shows activity area G5-II looking from the southwestern side (from activity area G5-III).

-insert plate 17-

Notice the smooth rounded boulder on the right that is well engraved and part of activity area G6-I. Notice, also, what appear to be placed stones on the left of this rock and which are part of the shared boundary. (It is obvious here how the rough, recently fallen rocks overlie the smooth rounded boulders). Other characteristics shared by these floors include: the apparent “scooping-out” of floors (especially G5-III), the remains of pieces of large marsupials (two vertebrae on G5-IV, and the smashed remains of bones including a large kangaroo skull on G5-II – it has probably fallen off a nearby rock – as can be seen in plate 17a where the words “15FLIV” appear and beside the inch ruler, and in plate 17b). There was virtually no evidence of engraving on these floors (but see page 20 above); however, there are hardly any surfaces suitable for engraving either, and the rocks that are smooth are usually on the floor and walked over.

-insert plate 18-

The “Directional Stele” H5-a (see figure 3 and plate 18). This thin vertical boulder marks the high point of our path from the “ramparts” to the “squeeze at the rear of the upper chamber, and assists a person on this track by standing out and being a point to which to proceed. Thus, it is the “directional stele”. It was described in our previous report (Sharpe and Sharpe 1976:127), and appears to be a piece of the roof (as one side, that facing the path, is smooth - and sparsely engraved – and the other side is rather jagged) that has fallen and tilted. It also lies on smooth rounded boulders and appears somewhat older than the rockfall E immediately to the northeast of it; this is covered only with white dust and the “directional stele” also has red dust on it. To its southwest are smooth rounded boulders for a few meters before the fresh rockfall is encountered again. It appears to be the northern-most tip of the rockfall in which lie activity areas G5-I to IV, G6-III, at least the northern-most tip that is visible as the present surface. There is also a fine example of a large wooden torch beside it.

Rockfall E

To the northwest of rockfall D, lies the most recent rockfall, rockfall E (see figure 2 and plate 1b). It comprises jagged white rocks and shows very little sign of smoothing; there is no red dust on it. It also has within it no sign of human occupation; no floors, engravings, bones, or torches. And it has been the area of the most extensive search for the floor of engraved smooth and rounded boulders, which it is supposed is underneath this massive rockfall.

Hole Number 1. The search for engravings on smooth rounded boulders underneath this rockfall started with a rather small hole (about 80 centimeters high and one meter deep) northeast of the “directional stele” (see figure 2). Two neighboring rounded boulders were separated by rubble and what appears to be a large piece of roof (the underside is smooth and unengraved, and the upperside is rough) sits on their tops (see plate 19). The idea was simple.

-insert plate 19-

If a piece of the rubble up against the smooth rounded boulders covers engravings, one would expect engravings to cease abruptly at the edge of the piece of rock, and when the rock is lifted away, the engravings to continue under where the rock was covering. There were engravings on the smooth boulders that ceased at a piece of rough rubble leaning up against one of the boulders. The piece of rubble lifted away is that in the upper left of plate 19; the photograph was taken before the rock was moved.

The strong engravings that went up to the edge of the piece of rubble did continue straight on over the section of the smooth rounded boulder that was covered by the piece of rubble. These pieces of rubble in fact were almost cintered together and were tightly attached to their surrounds. But there was little crystalizing underneath them. After the first piece of rubble was removed and the engravings exposed, a second piece was removed, exposing still more engravings.

What might have been the original floor was sought for it might have had wood and /or charcoal on it, but the base floor was a long way down beneath the rubble, and anyway, wood could have fallen through to it. It was noted also that the rock stood on to see the engravings (which is now part of the floor of the cave), has very worn and well-spaced engravings on its upper face as well as sharply engraved and closer-together engravings; it too was a smooth and rounded boulder.

Hole Number 2. About halfway down the gentle slope from the “directional stele” to the sudden descent to the “squeeze”, against the north-eastern wall, is a hole between the rocks which comprise the rubble floor (see figure 2 and plate 20a). Going down this hole about four meters one comes to a sort of cave underneath the rubble floor of the upper chamber, about five meters long and two meters wide, and in most places high enough for a person to stand up in. It has a flat rubble floor, one side is the smooth unengraved wall of the cave, and the inside ceiling is also smooth and unengraved and appears to be a piece of the cave’s ceiling. This hole does not, therefore, appear to be the hole under the floor of the cave which Maynard and Edwards describe in what they call section NE5 of the upper chamber’s wall (see Maynard and Edwards 1971:67), and in fact the hole labelled here as “Number 2 is more in their section NE4 of the cave wall; in this section they found “virtually no markings” (Maynard and Edwards 1971: 67).

-insert plate 20-

But there are engraved boulders here if one is willing to look for them. At the southeastern end of the hole (see plate 20b) there was a small gap through which one can look, and, with the aid of a light, see, some four meters further down, wall and smooth rounded boulders supporting the rubble of this rockfall on their tops. We cleared away some of this rubble and a thin member of our party descended down to the rounded boulders.

-insert plate 21-

(After Chadwick) Inside this lower hole is a large engraved boulder (see plate 21), the top of which has been smashed by the rockfall. It was engraved before the rockfall as the engravings obviously would have continued under it and the knocked off pieces lying beside the boulder were also engraved. This was the only engraving found down this hole. On a sloping shelf adjacent to the engraved boulder were four large pieces of carbon. All the rubble here appears loose and uncintered, and the dust is rosa in colour. On the surface, the dust is white.

Hole Number 3. We investigated more holes under the rockfall to the northwest of the “cavern,” around where the “fireplace” was found. Only one of these holes was suitable to photograph, and this is “Hole Number 3 (see figure 2). Figure 14 shows the hole in detail.

-insert figure 14 and plate 22-

Rubble had to be removed from the entrance to the chamber containing the rounded and engraved boulder (see plate 22). Inside the hole also is wood and charcoal, the charcoal being in rosa dust, both covered with white dust (after Chadwick).

There is other evidence also showing the rounded and smooth boulder floor under the angular rockfall, and showing the human use of the former. This includes an engraved rounded boulder about thirty meters past the “directional stele” towards the “squeeze,” near the northeastern wall, and which is protruding out of the rubble (see figure 2).

The alternative explanation to this evidence than that rockfalls A, B, D, and E cover the original, engraved, rounded and smooth boulder floor of rockfall C, is that the Aborigines have come across the smooth rounded boulders underneath the angular rockfall and have engraved them, sometimes sealing up the chambers or covering over the rocks on completing the engraving. Such a proposition would, if amplified along these lines, be impossible to disprove, as any evidence for the thesis presented here could be countered by saying that the Aborigines created the state in which we find the engravings. But such a theory is worn very thin in countering the finds described above. In additions, Maynard and Edwards also invoke the suggestion that collapse occurred after the markings were made on the walls. (Maynard and Edwards 1971: 68). It would seem, then, that rockfalls have covered the once humanly used floor of smooth and rounded boulders, and which extended over the entire floor of the chamber. The boulder and wall markings could be associated and it be said that they were both covered, as Edwards and Maynard say the wall markings have been by later roof and wall collapses at various points. It is true, however, that at least one of the rockfalls, namely rockfall D, which inundated the original floor of rockfall C has also been used by prehistoric human beings.

Rockfall F

Rockfall F is the original floor of smooth and rounded boulders, where rockfall E ceases (see figure 2), and may well be the same as rockfall C. It starts at the slope down to the “squeeze” and goes through the “squeeze” itself. The start, however, is only “vague” on the sense that rockfall E has come down the slope and mixed with the smooth rounded boulders. This area is the most famous part of Koonalda Cave for in it are the masses of wall markings, including the impressive finger markings and the equally impressive wall engravings above the entrance to the “squeeze” itself. It is interesting to note that rockfall E ceases where there is a step in the ceiling of the cave (see figure 2); this also marks the beginning of the slope down to the “squeeze” area too.

But there are engraved boulders down here too. One example can be found on the slope down to the “squeeze” and looks like a bird (see figure 2 and plate 23). It is sitting in a gap going in under the fall, the gap roofed by the original ceiling of the cave, and may have been dislodged and fallen to its present position, or may be more or less where it was originally. An impressive stream of engravings is on its right face.

-insert plate 23-

On the flattish part of rockfall F, in the midst of the finger markings, is a smooth rounded boulder that is also engraved (see figure 2). There is no fallen rubble with it, so it is probably in its original position. This rock is rather soft and a vivid white in colour, and its engravings are on its wall side (this is the southwestern wall of the cave). It may well be that the finger markings on the walls and the engraving of the boulders were contemporary and related ritual acts.

Other boulders in rockfall F are also engraved, but no thorough investigation of them has been made. It is important to note that Gallus has excavated in this area, having discovered mining trenches (which are pointed to by a set of wall engravings, which will be mentioned and illustrated later), dating back to around 20,000 years B.P. (his results are summarized in Gallus 1971: 127-28).

Stratigraphy. The stratigraphic findings (below the surface) from the five small excavations so far reported from the upper chamber. The following, in tabular form, is a summary of the stratigraphic findings (below the surface) from the five small excavations so far reported from the upper chamber:

 

Near Rock E4-b (Smith)

Gray lens

Consolidated red

Compact pink

Dark red/

brown

Light red

Loose light pink

Gravel

Light pink

Dark red

Light pink

White

Rock

Activity Area E4-I (Chadwick)

Gray

Rosa

 

Red

Rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Activity Area G5-I (Smith)

Fine gray

Consolidated pink

 

Dark red/

brown

White

Rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

Activity Area G5-I (Chadwick)

Gray

Rosa

 

Compacted dark red

Coarse rosa

Rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Fireplace” (Chadwick)

Besides bones, pebbles, charcoal, and wood, the soil is only rosa in color.

The first two excavations are close to each other, and about midway between the second pair and the last; the first pair and the last are in rockfall C, but since activity area G5-I is partly in rockfall C and partly in rockfall D, it may well be considered to be also in the former. The stratigraphies are reasonably parallel apart from the “fireplace”; it is a disturbed area, however, and being next to a wall it is bound to have a deal more of dust deposit.

There are two courses which might help establish a unified stratigraphic sequence for the whole of the upper chamber, but there is so little deposit anywhere that stratigraphies are hard to establish, especially after the thin dust layer has been walked over.

The first possible avenue is to compare the deposit called the “twiggy layer,” which comprises mainly twigs and bat droppings, with another deposit comprising thicker pieces of wood and charcoal (see Symon 1971: 18-20). There deposits can be separated if the first originated from the surface of the plain (twigs being brought in with water) and if the second is of human origin. However, the twiggy layer could also be the remains of human torches, not made of thick roots or branches, but of twigs lashed together and perhaps soaked in an animal fat (a testable proposition); bundles of twigs could have been transported to the upper chamber, and the torches made up there, leaving broken and unburned twigs scattered around. This twiggy layer is now most apparent in inaccessible places and under rocks. One could explain the latter situation by suggesting that the rocks have been placed over the twigs, or that the twigs have washed under the rocks. Presumably, this layer existed over most of the floor and was covered with dust before moderns started walking over it and trampling the twigs into powder. But to separate the two deposits of twigs and torches is difficult to maintain because the torches also appear under rocks and lying with the twigs, and because some of the twigs have charred ends making it possible that both have a human origin.

The second potential means for creating a relative stratigraphy is to consider the colour and texture of the dust. The dust that forms the surface layer over many parts of the chamber is coarse and white, sometimes gray. There are also a rosa layer and a red dust, the latter found especially in the area of the smooth rounded boulders. Can the different dusts be related to any particular time or climactic period (Gallus 1971: 92)? The floor area of the smooth rounded boulders appears older than the rest of the floor of the upper chamber, and yet the ceiling above it is possibly higher than any other part of the chamber, especially a portion of it between what appear to be joint lines. But more interesting for the stratigraphy is that this portion of the ceiling between the joint lines is red in color. It could be a clay infill between beds of limestone (Frank 1971b: 41 suggests this for the origin of clay deposits in the Gallus site), as opposed to the pure limestone that forms the ceiling for the rest of the upper chamber (see figure 2). (This redder ceiling overlies activity areas E4-I and G5-I, but not the “fireplace.”)

In the upper chamber, then, stratigraphic sequences will probably vary from place to place, depending on the age of the surface, the deposit which forms the ceiling of the cave above it, its degree of human use, the proximity of ochre deposits, and so on. To attempt a universal stratigraphic sequence for the upper chamber may well be a difficult endeavour.

Summary and Conclusion

Koonalda Cave on the South Australian portion of the Nullarbor Plain, has long been famous for its archaeological excavations and the wall markings at the end of what is called the upper chamber of its northwest passage. Further engravings on the floor boulders of this chamber were discovered in 1973 together with torch, wood and bone remains dating to 19,000 years B.P. This is a report of the findings of a second investigation of the upper chamber in 1976.

The floor of the upper chamber comprises at least five rockfalls of different ages and degrees of weathering (which renders the rocks smooth and rounded). The oldest collapse, rockfalls C and F is engraved. Engravings on the other areas are sparse if not absent altogether. Within rockfall C are individual engraved rocks and a number of activity areas, some obviously intentionally constructed and flanked by engraved boulders. This part of the cave, its deposits and features, is described in detail, for it is a prehistoric ritual sanctuary of some magnitude. A few small excavations are also described; these define comparable stratigraphic sequences.

The rocks in rockfall A are fairly smooth and rounded, and those in rockfall D are more rough and jagged but have been used significantly by humans in that there is an impressive series of activity areas constructed here, together with bone deposits and a chalcedony flake, presumably an engraving tool. The most recent rockfalls are B and E. In them is no evidence of human use, but underneath them and the others can be found the original smooth, rounded, and engraved boulder floor.

An important question to be answered is the mechanism by which the rockfalls become smooth and rounded. The above report implies that this process is active on rockfalls over already engraved smooth and rounded boulders, and difficulties obviously exist if the process is achieved by water flow as is often supposed. In fact, after a number of mechanisms are investigated, the most promising is that of exsudation or weathering, in which crystals form in the surface pores of the limestone forcing off particles. There are, however, details to be settled with this as a proposed mechanism.

Acknowledgements

Many people were involved in the 1976 expedition to Koonalda and the preparation of this report:

·      For financial support, encouragement and advice, the National Geographic Society (especially Mary Griswold Smith and Victor Boswell), for supplying gear, sponsorship and other support, the South Australian Museum (especially Graeme Pretty).

·      For permission to enter Koonalda Cave, the South Australian Aboriginal and Historical Relics Advisory Board.

·      For accompanying us on this visit: Sandor Gallus (nominated by the South Australian Museum as the field investigator), Ian Lewis, Kevin Mott, and Neil Chadwick.

·      For hospitality while at Koonalda, Mr. and Mrs. Cyril Gurney.

·      For stimulus and support, Alexander Marshack and Hallam Movius Jr. of Harvard University.

·      For information and comments in the preparation of the report, Mike Smith, Betty Ross, C. Merewether and A. Cooper (and Sandor Gallus for permission to use Neil Chadwick’s and their notes on the upper chamber, the latter compiled ? January 1975), Graeme Pretty, J. N. Jennings of the Australian National University, and C. D. Ollier of the University of New England.

·      For assistance in the preparation of the manuscript itself, the late Alf Armstrong, Sandra Myer my typist, and the Universities of Otago and Auckland.

·      Most of all, I want to express my great debt to Sandor Gallus.

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_________ 1971b. The archaeology of Koonalda Cave. In Aboriginal Man and Environment in Australia (D. J. Mulvaney and J. Golson, eds.), pp.105-13. Australian National University Press, Canberra.

_________ 1971c. The cave. In Archaeology of the Gallus Site, Koonalda Cave (R. V. S.Wright, ed.), pp. 22-28. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.

_________ 1971d. The flints. In Archaeology of the Gallus Site, Koonalda Cave (R. V. S. Wright, ed.), pp. 48-58. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra.

Copyright © 2000 by Kevin Sharpe. In preparation for submission for publication.