Cuddie Springs

Cuddie Springs is a notable archaeological and paleontological site in the semi-arid zone of central northern New South Wales, Australia, near Carinda in Walgett Shire [1]. Cuddie Springs is an open site, with the fossil deposits preserved in a claypan on the floor of an ancient ephemeral lake [1]. The claypan fills with water after local rainstorms and often takes months to dry, a fact which facilitated the survival of fossils over a long period of time [1]. Cuddie Springs has been known as a fossil megafauna locality since the late 1870s, when a well was sunk into the centre of the claypan [1]. The Australian Museum launched excavations in 1933 and while many bones were found, no archaeological discoveries were made in that initial research [1]. More extensive excavations were conducted between 1991 and 1996 by a team from the University of New South Wales and were continued between 1997 and 2009 through the University of Sydney [1]. Despite the name, Cuddie Springs is an ephemeral lake, and not a spring [1].