In a groundbreaking collaboration, the GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) and Monash University researchers have discovered evidence of ancient rituals dating back 500 generations. Published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, the findings offer profound insights into one of the world’s oldest living cultures.
The archaeological team uncovered two small fireplaces, each containing a shaped stick. The first, the size of a human palm, held a partially burned Casuarina stem. The second, buried deeper, featured a Casuarina stick shaped like a throwing stick. Chemical analyses revealed that both sticks, dating back 11,000 and 12,000 years, had been smeared with animal or human fat, marking the end of the Last Ice Age.
Historical accounts from the 19th century provide context for these findings. Alfred Howitt, a government geologist and ethnographer, documented the ritual practices of mulla-mullung, powerful GunaiKurnai medicine people. The ritual involved fastening an item belonging to a sick person to a fat-smeared throwing stick, which was then placed in the ground before a fire was lit beneath it. The mulla-mullung would chant the sick person’s name, completing the charm once the stick fell.
Howitt noted that the stick was made of Casuarina and that “the practice still exists.” GunaiKurnai Elder Uncle Russell Mullett emphasised the cultural significance of these discoveries, stating, “For these artefacts to survive is just amazing. They’re telling us a story. They’ve been waiting here all this time for us to learn from them. It’s a reminder that we are a living culture still connected to our ancient past. It’s a unique opportunity to be able to read the memoirs of our Ancestors and share that with our community.”
Professor Bruno David from the Monash Indigenous Studies Centre highlighted the importance of these findings, saying, “The connection of these archaeological finds with recent GunaiKurnai practices demonstrates 12,000 years of knowledge-transfer. Nowhere else on Earth has archaeological evidence of a very specific cultural practice previously been tracked so far back in time.”
An earlier excavation at Cloggs Cave in the 1970s did not consult Traditional Owners. Today, Uncle Russell Mullett emphasises the significance of reclaiming these stories, stating, “GLaWAC and Monash University are showing what a true Traditional Owner-led partnership should look like. Combining Western scientific techniques with our traditional knowledge allows the whole story to unfold.”
These findings illustrate that despite millennia of cultural innovations, the GunaiKurnai have preserved and passed down their cultural knowledge for countless generations, dating back to the Last Ice Age and beyond.
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