Microscopic plant remains reveal 25,000 years of GunaiKurnai rituals deep in a Victorian cave

Researchers working with GunaiKurnai community members have discovered microscopic plant remains in Cloggs Cave in Victoria revealing twenty-five thousand years of ancestral rituals. The Conversation reports that phytoliths—tiny silica bodies left behind when plants decay—survived in ash layers, revealing which plants were brought into the cave and burnt. The cave was never used for everyday living, but instead as a secluded space for powerful rituals including initiation ceremonies and healing practices. Grasses were brought in whole and burnt repeatedly, leaving ash layers densely packed with these microscopic remains. The research helps unearth cultural knowledge that had partly been forgotten, letting GunaiKurnai stories of their ancestral practices be told again.

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