Archaeological Sites in Australia

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Aboriginal Sites of New South Wales

Cave Structures · < 4500 BC

The Aboriginal Sites of New South Wales encompass rock shelters containing cultural deposits in the Sydney Basin, which is one of Australia's richest provinces for Aboriginal archaeological sites,…

Balls Head Reserve

Rock art · 4500 - 3000 BC

Forested headland reserve in Waverton, Sydney, on Port Jackson, 1.5 km west of the Harbour Bridge. Traditional land of the Cammeraygal people, the reserve preserves Aboriginal rock engravings, art…

Bidjigal Reserve

Cave Structures · < 4500 BC

A 186-hectare reserve in western Sydney, New South Wales, commemorating the Bidjigal Aboriginal people. The reserve contains rock shelters including one with a midden dated to 10,150 years BP -- the…

Bone Cave, Tasmania

Cave Structures · 500 BC - 1 AD

Bone Cave is a small vertical limestone cave in the Upper Weld Valley of Tasmania with evidence of sporadic human occupation spanning 35,000 to 10,000 years ago. The most intensive use occurred…

Box Gully Archaeological Site

City/town/settlement · 500 BC - 1 AD

Box Gully is an Aboriginal archaeological site on the shore of saline Lake Tyrrell in the Mallee region of northern Victoria, Australia. The site contains remains of a small hunting camp that…

Carisbrook Stone Arrangement

Stone circle · 1 - 500 AD

The Carisbrook Stone Arrangement is a well-preserved Aboriginal ceremonial site on the banks of Tullaroop Creek, about 5 km southeast of Carisbrook in Victoria, Australia. Measuring 60 by 5 metres,…

Cloggs Cave

Cave Structures · 500 BC - 1 AD

Cloggs Cave is a limestone cave near Buchan, Victoria, on GunaiKurnai Country along the Snowy River gorge. Rediscovered in 1971 and first excavated by 1972, joint research by the GunaiKurnai Land and…

Cuddie Springs

Geological interest · < 4500 BC

Cuddie Springs is a significant archaeological and paleontological site near Brewarrina in central northern New South Wales, Australia, occupying a shallow basin that formed an ancient lake. Known as…

Devil's Lair

Cave Structures · < 4500 BC

Devil's Lair is a single-chamber cave of about 200 m² formed in Quaternary dune limestone on the Leeuwin‑Naturaliste Ridge, 5 km from the modern Western Australian coast[1]. The deposit reaches 660…

Gabarnmung Cave

Cave Structures · 500 BC - 1 AD

Gabarnmung is an archaeological and rock art site in southwestern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Excavations revealed habitation dating back at least 44,000 years, making it among the…

Green Gully Archaeological Site

Geological interest · 4500 - 3000 BC

An Aboriginal archaeological site in Keilor, Victoria, discovered during soil quarrying in the 1960s in the alluvial terraces of the Maribyrnong Valley. In 1968, an Aboriginal burial was unearthed…

Karta

City/town/settlement · < 4500 BC

8,000–4,500 BC: Karta, on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, contains the Kartan industry, one of Australia's earliest known large-stone-tool production sites. Archaeologists have excavated tens of…

Keilor Archaeological Site

City/town/settlement · 500 BC - 1 AD

The Keilor archaeological site was among the first places to demonstrate the antiquity of Aboriginal occupation of Australia when a cranium, unearthed in 1940, was found to be nearly 15,000 years old…

Koonalda Cave

Cave Structures · 500 BC - 1 AD

Koonalda Cave is an Aboriginal archaeological site on the Nullarbor Plain in South Australia, notable for containing the world's most impressive display of Pleistocene-era finger flutings --…

Koongine Cave

Cave Structures · < 4500 BC

Koongine Cave is an archaeological site in the Limestone Coast of South Australia, situated in a low limestone ridge about 4 km from the coastline. The cave was occupied for approximately 2,000 years…

Kow Swamp Archaeological Site

City/town/settlement · 4500 - 3000 BC

Kow Swamp Archaeological Site contains a series of late Pleistocene burials within the lunette of the eastern rim of a former lake in north-central Victoria, Australia [1]. Located 10 km southeast of…

Kutikina Cave

Cave Structures · 500 BC - 1 AD

Kutikina Cave is a Pleistocene rock shelter on the Franklin River in Tasmania's South West Wilderness World Heritage Area. Excavated in 1981, it yielded over 250,000 bone fragments and 75,000 stone…

Lake Bolac Stone Arrangement

Megalithic stones · 3000 - 1500 BC

The Lake Bolac Stone Arrangement, also known as the Kuyang Stone Arrangement, is an Aboriginal ceremonial site in Victoria, Australia. Basalt stones are arranged in a 176-metre crescent pattern…

Lake Mungo

Geological interest · 500 BC - 1 AD

Lake Mungo is a dry lake in New South Wales, Australia, approximately 760 km west of Sydney and 90 km northeast of Mildura[1]. It is the central feature of Mungo National Park and one of seventeen…

Madjedbebe

Cave Structures · 500 BC - 1 AD

Madjedbebe is a sandstone rock shelter in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, representing possibly the oldest site of human habitation in Australia. Located approximately 50 km from the…

Mount William Stone Axe Quarry

Mine/quarry · 500 - 1000 AD

The Mount William Stone Axe Quarry (Wil-im-ee moor-ring, 'axe place' in Woiwurrung) is an Aboriginal Australian site in Central Victoria, located 9 km northeast of Lancefield and 78 km from Melbourne…

Mudgegonga Rock Shelter

Cave Structures · 3000 - 1500 BC

The Mudgegonga Rock Shelter is a large rock overhang in northeastern Victoria containing over 400 Aboriginal wall paintings and stencils, representing one of the richest rock art sites in the region…

Murujuga

Rock art · < 4500 BC

Murujuga, also known as the Burrup Peninsula, is located in the Dampier Archipelago of Western Australia's Pilbara region and contains the world's largest and most significant collection of…

New Guinea II Cave

Cave Structures · 500 BC - 1 AD

New Guinea II is a limestone cave and rockshelter on the Snowy River at the end of New Guinea Track, near Buchan, Victoria [1]. The cave was within the traditional country of the Krowathunkooloong…

Ngarrabullgan

Cave Structures · 500 BC - 1 AD

Ngarrabullgan is a large tabletop mountain in north Queensland, sacred to the Djungan Aboriginal people as a Dreaming place. Ngarrabullgan Cave is one of Queensland's two oldest known Aboriginal…

Quinkan Rock Art

Rock art · < 4500 BC

Quinkan Rock Art is a significant body of Aboriginal rock art found among sandstone escarpments near Laura, Queensland. The art features unique representations of "Quinkans" rendered through painting…

Sydney Rock Engravings

Rock art · 500 BC - 1 AD

Sydney Rock Engravings are Aboriginal rock art sites carved into Sydney sandstone in the Sydney region of New South Wales, Australia. These carefully drawn images depict people, animals, or symbols.…

Tarragal Caves

Cave Structures · < 4500 BC

The Tarragal Caves are a network of limestone caves and rock shelters overlooking the Bridgewater Lakes near Cape Bridgewater, Victoria, Australia. Excavations in the late 1970s by Harry Lourandos…

Warratyi

Cave Structures · 500 BC - 1 AD

Warratyi is a rock shelter in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia, representing the oldest known site of human habitation in inland Australia [1]. Discovered accidentally in 2011 by a local…

Wurdi Youang Stone Arrangement

Stone circle · < 4500 BC

Wurdi Youang is an Aboriginal stone arrangement at Mount Rothwell, Victoria, Australia [1]. The site was acquired by the Indigenous Land Corporation on 14 January 2000 and transferred to the…