Australian rituals have persisted for 12,000 years, as evidenced by ancient artefacts

Wooden artefacts found in Australian caves suggest Aboriginal rituals recorded in the 19th century.^Number The ritual is believed to have taken place 12,000 years ago, making it possibly the oldest cultural ceremony in the world.

Between 2019 and 2020, a team of archaeologists and members of the local Indigenous community of Gunaikurnai in southeastern Australia carried out excavations at Clogs Cave, near the Snowy River in Victoria.

The site had been partially excavated in the 1970s, but during new work the team discovered two preserved fireplaces, containing mostly unfired artefacts made from local wood. Casalina Chemical analysis of the wooden remains found showed they were smeared with animal or human fat and dated to between 11,000 and 12,000 years ago, making them some of the oldest wooden artefacts found in Australia.

This alone would have been a major puzzling discovery, but the researchers and local residents were also examining the ethnographic reports of 19 other people.^NumberAlfred Howitt was a 20th century cultural anthropologist who studied the customs and traditions of tribes in south-eastern Australia in the 1880s.

In 1887, close to Clogs Cave, he recorded the rituals of the indigenous “wizards”, powerful medicine men of Gunaikurnai, now known as “Mula-Mlang”, who smeared wooden throwing sticks with animal or human fat. Casalina The wood is placed in small ritual fires and used as magical talismans and curses, a ritual he understood to be used against enemies or anyone the ritualist wishes to harm.

“During this time, the wizard would continue to chant the spell – as the saying goes, he would 'sing the man's name' – and when the stick fell, the spell was complete – a practice that continues to this day,” Howitt writes.

Bruno David Monash University in Melbourne Russell MalletThe Gunaikurnai elder said similarities between archaeological finds and ethnographic descriptions led him to believe the same rituals had been taking place for up to 12,000 years.

Mallet said he was convinced of the connection because Howitt's description matched so closely with what was found in the cave — the type of wood and the position of the fat on the sticks were exactly as Howitt described them.

“This will ensure the longevity of our oral traditions and knowledge and the passing of that knowledge from generation to generation,” Mallett says.

David says the conclusions slowly deepened with the discovery of these unusual wood artefacts.

“Archaeologists never see the rituals that were taking place behind these ancient ruins,” he says, “and to me it's really amazing that the physical evidence that matches the cultural knowledge so well has remained so largely intact and for so long. It's exactly what Howitt described.”

“The team's methodology is thorough and excellent.” Paul Tassone At Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.

According to Tason, these communities have undergone many changes over time, but this ritual appears to have remained constant: “What strikes me about this is that for this same form of ritual to have continued for such a long period of time, it must have been considered important and effective.”