Overview
- A peer‑reviewed paper published July 22, 2026, reports that analysis of microscopic plant silica bodies called phytoliths shows people repeatedly carried whole grasses into Cloggs Cave and burned them in thin layers.
- The team studied 73 ashy layers and found up to 97% of the phytoliths came from grasses and as many as 18% were visibly burned or melted, which the authors interpret as clear evidence of intentional burning by people rather than wind‑blown deposits.
- Optically stimulated luminescence and accelerator mass spectrometry dating place the oldest securely dated burned‑plant layers between about 25,800 and 24,000 years ago, with many younger ashy layers dated from roughly 4,400 to 1,600 years ago.
- Excavations recovered a roughly 28 cm standing stone set in an ashy context about 2,000 years ago, and other artefacts, situating the phytolith evidence within a ritual landscape consistent with GunaiKurnai oral histories.
- The work was requested and co‑designed with the GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation and elders, but authors note deeper deposits older than ~25,000 years are mixed by past rockfall so their precise ages cannot be securely resolved.