<< Text Pages >> Koonalda Cave - Cave or Rock Shelter in Australia
Submitted by Andy B on Wednesday, 30 January 2013 Page Views: 5614
Natural PlacesSite Name: Koonalda CaveCountry: Australia
NOTE: This site is 238.42 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
Latitude: 31.4S Longitude: 129.883333E
Condition:
| 5 | Perfect |
| 4 | Almost Perfect |
| 3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
| 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
| 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
| 0 | No data. |
| -1 | Completely destroyed |
| 5 | Superb |
| 4 | Good |
| 3 | Ordinary |
| 2 | Not Good |
| 1 | Awful |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
| 4 | Short walk on a footpath |
| 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
| 2 | A long walk |
| 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
| 0 | No data. |
| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
| 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
| 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
| 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
| 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
| 0 | no data |
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Koonalda Cave is an important archeological site in Nullarbor Plain, in South Australia. Thousands of square metres in the cave are covered in parallel finger-marked geometric lines and patterns, Indigenous Australian artwork which has been dated as 20,000 years old, making it older than any known prehistoric art in Europe.
Koonalda is a limestone cave located in the Nullarbor Plain of South Australia near a wide bay known as the Great Australian Bight. 19,000 years ago sea level was ninety meters lower than today. Because the sea was lower, Koonalda might have been one hundred eighty kilometers from the coastal belt rather then the edge as is its present day position. Also, because the cave may have been located nearly one hundred eighty kilometers from the nearest habitable region, Koonalda is thought to have been used for rituals.
In 1956 the Nullarbor expedition explored Koonalda and made two discoveries marking a major turning point both for archaeology and rock art studies. The expedition located Aboriginal rock art and a workshop where tools were made from rock found in the walls of the cave. The Koonalda people left their marks over several thousand square feet of the cave.
The drawings, known today as meanders, date back 19,000 to 20,000 years. Meanders are sets of engraved or finger-marked geometric lines parallel to one another. As if a ritual tradition, the meanders appear to be engraved repeatedly, possibly showing the people returned on occasion to add to their existing marks. The meanders appear to show an interest in the cracks and other imperfections in the rock surface. Ultraviolet light can be used to determine the new engravings from the old. When ultraviolet light is shined on a meander, an older meander will not appear as bright because of the oxidization which has taken place over time.
Among the meanders adorning the cave, prehistoric torches and animal bones have also been recovered. The Northwest Passage is garnished with meanders leading to the upper chamber believed to have been used for ritual purposes. Only animal skulls and vertebrae can be found in this location which is extremely difficult to reach even with modern day equipment. Koonalda Cave was abandoned nearly 19,000 years ago. The reason is thought to be contributed to a massive rock fall within the upper chamber.
Source: Wikipedia and Archive.org
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Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
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