Archer Michael, Akerman Kim, DeSantis Larisa, Dickson Blake Vermeer, Hand Suzanne, Hatcher Lindsay, Hellstrom John C, Jacobsen Geraldine, Louys Julien, Price Gilbert James, Ryan Helen, Sniderman Kale, Travouillon Kenny, Woodhead Jon
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
University of New South Wales, Moonah, Tasmania, Australia.
R Soc Open Sci. 2025 Oct 22;12(10):250078. doi: 10.1098/rsos.250078. eCollection 2025 Oct.
Claims have been made about the presumed role of Australia's First Peoples in the extinction of some of Australia's megafauna. However, evidence used to suggest butchering may instead demonstrate fossil collection by Australia's First Peoples. Using micro-computed tomography scanning and microscopic wear analysis, we analysed a cut sthenurine tibia from Mammoth Cave, Western Australia, previously interpreted as evidence of butchering. Our analyses suggest the cut occurred long after death and probably after fossilization. We investigated the possibility of long-distance transportation of a premolar of gifted by First Peoples in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. This species is otherwise unknown from northern Australia but common in southern Australia. Using X-ray fluorescence, we tested the potential provenance of the premolar and found that it was elementally indistinguishable from Mammoth Cave premolars. These results suggest that First Peoples may have collected fossils in southern Australia before carrying them to the Kimberley region. A review of other recent claims of killing and/or butchering of extinct megafaunal species suggests they too may have been collected as fossils. We argue that fossils were valued, being collected and transported long distances by the First Peoples in Australia in all probability thousands of years before Europeans arrived on this continent.
关于澳大利亚原住民在澳大利亚一些巨型动物灭绝过程中可能扮演的角色，一直存在各种说法。然而，那些用以表明存在屠宰行为的证据，反而可能证明是澳大利亚原住民进行了化石采集。我们利用微计算机断层扫描和微观磨损分析，对来自西澳大利亚猛犸洞的一根已切割的袋熊胫骨进行了分析，该胫骨此前被解读为屠宰证据。我们的分析表明，切割发生在动物死亡很久之后，可能是在化石形成之后。我们调查了西澳大利亚金伯利地区原住民赠送的一颗前磨牙长距离运输的可能性。该物种在澳大利亚北部其他地方并不为人所知，但在澳大利亚南部很常见。利用X射线荧光分析，我们测试了这颗前磨牙的潜在来源，发现它在元素组成上与猛犸洞的前磨牙无法区分。这些结果表明，原住民可能在澳大利亚南部采集了化石，然后将它们带到了金伯利地区。对最近其他关于已灭绝巨型动物物种被猎杀和/或屠宰的说法进行的审查表明，它们也可能是作为化石被采集的。我们认为，在欧洲人抵达这片大陆之前，很可能在数千年前，澳大利亚原住民就重视化石，并对其进行长途采集和运输。
