An archaeological re-investigation of the Mulka's Cave Aboriginal rock art site, near Hyden, Southwestern Australia
type: CreativeWork
description: Mulka's Cave is a profusely decorated hollow boulder at The Humps, a large granite dome near Hyden, a small town 350 km southeast of Perth. The importance of the artwork has been recognised for 50 years. Test excavations in the cave in 1988 yielded 210 mainly quartz artefacts assignable to the Australian Small Tool phase and a radiocarbon date of 420 ± 50 BP from just below the lowest artefact found. The artwork was recorded in detail in 2004. The recorder considered the radiocarbon date to be 'anomalously young' because most of the artwork is in poor condition, suggesting that it was made 3000-2000 years ago. Other dated rock art sites in Southwestern Australia came into use 4000-3000 BP. The excavators argued that the site was fairly insignificant, while the rock art researcher thought the profusion of motifs (452) made it a site of some significance, particularly in Southwestern Australia. The main aim of this study was to investigate these conflicting claims by re-investigating how Mulka's Cave had been used by Aboriginal people in the archaeological past. This research became possible because local tourist organisations obtained federal funding to install an elevated walkway outside the cave in 2006. Under Section 18 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act (1972) 12 of the 34 postholes required were excavated and artefacts were collected from all the ground surfaces to be impacted. Subsequently, under Section 16 of the AHA, four, small, 0.5 x 0.5 m, testpits were excavated around the site: outside the cave entrance, on The Humps and in the Camping Area; a sheltered spot where the Traditional Owners had camped as children, with their grandparents. Organic material was scarce, so analysis focused on the numbers and types of stone artefacts recovered. The artefacts excavated in 1988 were also re-analysed. Five radiocarbon dates were obtained, which suggested that people began visiting the Camping Area (and using ochre) about 6500 BP, making Mulka's Cave one of the oldest r…
abstract: Mulka's Cave is a profusely decorated hollow boulder at The Humps, a large granite dome near Hyden, a small town 350 km southeast of Perth. The importance of the artwork has been recognised for 50 years. Test excavations in the cave in 1988 yielded 210 mainly quartz artefacts assignable to the Australian Small Tool phase and a radiocarbon date of 420 ± 50 BP from just below the lowest artefact found. The artwork was recorded in detail in 2004. The recorder considered the radiocarbon date to be 'anomalously young' because most of the artwork is in poor condition, suggesting that it was made 3000-2000 years ago. Other dated rock art sites in Southwestern Australia came into use 4000-3000 BP. The excavators argued that the site was fairly insignificant, while the rock art researcher thought the profusion of motifs (452) made it a site of some significance, particularly in Southwestern Australia. The main aim of this study was to investigate these conflicting claims by re-investigating how Mulka's Cave had been used by Aboriginal people in the archaeological past. This research became possible because local tourist organisations obtained federal funding to install an elevated walkway outside the cave in 2006. Under Section 18 of the Aboriginal Heritage Act (1972) 12 of the 34 postholes required were excavated and artefacts were collected from all the ground surfaces to be impacted. Subsequently, under Section 16 of the AHA, four, small, 0.5 x 0.5 m, testpits were excavated around the site: outside the cave entrance, on The Humps and in the Camping Area; a sheltered spot where the Traditional Owners had camped as children, with their grandparents. Organic material was scarce, so analysis focused on the numbers and types of stone artefacts recovered. The artefacts excavated in 1988 were also re-analysed. Five radiocarbon dates were obtained, which suggested that people began visiting the Camping Area (and using ochre) about 6500 BP, making Mulka's Cave one of the oldest r…
author: Rossi, Alana
keywords: archaeology, rock formations, rock art, aboriginal history, indigenous, History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology
date published: 2010-01-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-27T19:21:09Z
provider: Edith Cowan University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia