Study finds famous Australian caves are up to 500,000 years older than we thought - and it could help explain a megafauna mystery

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 23:00:52 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/study-finds-famous-australian-caves-are-up-to-500-000-years-older-than-we-thought-and-it-could-help-explain-a-megafauna-mystery-190688>

"South Australia’s Naracoorte Caves is one of the world’s best fossil sites,
containing a record spanning more than half a million years. Among the remains
preserved in layers of sand are the bones of many iconic Australian megafauna
species that became extinct between 48,000 and 37,000 years ago.

The reasons for the demise of these megafauna species are intensely debated.
But the older the fossils we can find, the better we can understand the
species’ evolution and extinction.

To date, determining the precise age of the caves has been difficult. However
our research demonstrates, for the first time, how old Naracoorte’s caves
really are – and the answer is up to 500,000 years older than previously
thought.

Our findings shed new light on the antiquity of this important place. We hope
this will aid understanding of how biodiversity responds to a changing climate
over time."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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