TY - JOUR
T1 - Geomorphological context and formation history of Cloggs Cave
T2 - What was the cave like when people inhabited it?
AU - Delannoy, Jean Jacques
AU - David, Bruno
AU - Fresløv, Joanna
AU - Mullett, Russell
AU - GunaiKurnai Land, Land
AU - Green, Helen
AU - Berthet, Johan
AU - Petchey, Fiona
AU - Arnold, Lee J.
AU - Wood, Rachel
AU - McDowell, Matthew
AU - Crouch, Joe
AU - Mialanes, Jerome
AU - Ash, Jeremy
AU - Wong, Vanessa N.L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors
PY - 2020/10
Y1 - 2020/10
N2 - New research undertaken at Cloggs Cave, in the foothills of the Australian Alps, employed an integrated geological-geomorphological-archaeological approach with manifold dating methods and fine resolution LiDAR 3D mapping. Long-standing questions about the site's chronostratigraphy (e.g. the exact relationship between basal megafaunal deposits and archaeological layers), sedimentation processes and geomorphic changes were resolved. The cave's formation history was reconstructed to understand its changing morphology and morphogenic processes, and to clarify how these processes shaped the cave's deposits. Key findings include the identification of: 1) the geomorphological processes that caused the lateral juxtaposition of 52,000 year-old megafaunal and later occupational layers; 2) the existence of one and possibly two (now-buried) palaeo-entrance(s) that enabled now-extinct megafauna and extant large fauna to enter the cave, most likely via a free-roaming passage rather than a pit drop; 3) morphological changes to the cave during the time of the Old People, including the timing of changes to the inclination of palaeo-surfaces; and 4) modifications to stalactites, crushing of calcite formations for the manufacture of powder, construction of a stone arrangement, and movement of large limestone blocks by the Old People. Ultimately, these findings demonstrate that to properly understand what Cloggs Cave was like when the Old People visited the site requires the construction of a narrative that spans some 400 million years and the development of an approach capable of integrating the many scales and processes (e.g. geological, geomorphological, archaeological) that configured to shape the site.
AB - New research undertaken at Cloggs Cave, in the foothills of the Australian Alps, employed an integrated geological-geomorphological-archaeological approach with manifold dating methods and fine resolution LiDAR 3D mapping. Long-standing questions about the site's chronostratigraphy (e.g. the exact relationship between basal megafaunal deposits and archaeological layers), sedimentation processes and geomorphic changes were resolved. The cave's formation history was reconstructed to understand its changing morphology and morphogenic processes, and to clarify how these processes shaped the cave's deposits. Key findings include the identification of: 1) the geomorphological processes that caused the lateral juxtaposition of 52,000 year-old megafaunal and later occupational layers; 2) the existence of one and possibly two (now-buried) palaeo-entrance(s) that enabled now-extinct megafauna and extant large fauna to enter the cave, most likely via a free-roaming passage rather than a pit drop; 3) morphological changes to the cave during the time of the Old People, including the timing of changes to the inclination of palaeo-surfaces; and 4) modifications to stalactites, crushing of calcite formations for the manufacture of powder, construction of a stone arrangement, and movement of large limestone blocks by the Old People. Ultimately, these findings demonstrate that to properly understand what Cloggs Cave was like when the Old People visited the site requires the construction of a narrative that spans some 400 million years and the development of an approach capable of integrating the many scales and processes (e.g. geological, geomorphological, archaeological) that configured to shape the site.
KW - Archaeomorphology
KW - Australian Alps
KW - Australian Southern Uplands
KW - Cloggs Cave
KW - East Gippsland, Australia
KW - Gunaikurnai
KW - Holocene
KW - Late Pleistocene
KW - Megafauna
KW - Speleothems
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091625868&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102461
DO - 10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102461
M3 - Article
SN - 2352-409X
VL - 33
JO - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
JF - Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
M1 - 102461
ER -