Grass burned for magic: 25,000-year-old cave reveals ancient rituals
Archaeologists have confirmed that the GunaiKurnai people performed rituals involving burning grass in Cloggs Cave for 25,000 years. Evidence found in the cave suggests these practices were linked to magic and healing from the Ice Age through the 19th century.
Why it matters
This discovery provides rare, long-term physical evidence of continuous cultural and spiritual practices among Indigenous Australians.
For 25,000 years, the GunaiKurnai (an Australian Aboriginal nation) people carried grass into Cloggs Cave and burned it. Archaeologists have finally found physical evidence that proves the ritual existed. These people burned the grass as part of rituals tied to magic, healing and the spiritual realm. Researchers unearthed layers of ash rich in phytoliths, microscopic silica remains from plants, that prove the ritual persisted from the last Ice Age to the 19th century. The findings are published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.Smoke and spiritCloggs Cave has long been a sacred place for the GunaiKurnai First Nations people, the acknowledged traditional custodians of Gippsland and the southern Victorian Alps.
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