Incisions, breakages and charring, some probably man-made, in fossil bones from Mammoth Cave, Western Australia

1980/01/01 by Michael Archer, I. M. Crawford, D Merrilees · 5 citations
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology

paper · doi:10.1080/03115518008619643

openalex publication_date 1980/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

Two small patches of richly fossiliferous deposit in Mammoth Cave, excavated early this century, yielded tooth-bearing and post-cranial material. We have studied a notched tibia, various broken femurs and charred bones, many of which are attributable to extinct taxa, and have concluded that deliberate action by Aboriginals is the most probable explantation for their condition. The age of one of the deposits, and probably also of the other, is in excess of 37,000 years.

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