Koonalda Cave, Nullarbor Plain, South Australia, c. 16,000-27,000 BP / h)ktrech3cstl
"1. Stele, Stone Arrangement. Extension Area C. Trench III. Photograph Bronwyn Roberts. The stele appears tilted only because of the angle of the camera.
2.-4. Stele, Stone Arrangement. Extension Area C. Trench III. Showing positin of chalcedony boulders behind Stele. Photographs by Bronwyn Roberts and Stuart Brown. In Plate VIII.2. Stele appears tilted only because of the angle of the camera.
"The arrangement [Extension Area C, Trench III] was emplaced against the lowest part of a huge rockfall, its area having been cut into the slope in the same way as Stone Arrangement C, Trench I. Some concentration of workshop waste occurred in front of a large ambos-stone in the area (A 31-2), which stands freely on the surface of the 'Travertine'… the ambos-stone shows preparation or use marks along its edge. The arc of debris in front of it contained a double pointed, side-tongued pick (mint) and a blank for a tongued side-scraper. In the middle of the area stands an erect stone slab (Plate VIII:1, Plate IX:2), erected on its narrow edge. It appears to have been roughly cut into rectangular shape so that a large chalcedony formation of imaginative form, appears in its middle area. It is so placed that it faces the depression which contained the water under which the 'Travertine' has formed. The stele stands on a rock slab, placed horizontally on the 'Travertine'. Rock slab, 'Travertine' and stele are solidly sintered together.… (It is to be noted that the ambos-stone stands loosely on the ground ,thus sit has been placed onto it, after the intense humidiity in the cave has ceased.) … The stele was propped up against background rocks, with chalcedony boulders, which were placed behind it… They sit so tight that they cannot be removed without disturbing the stele (Plate VIII:2-4). Further away a vaguely animal-shaped natural chalecedony boulder was found, lying on its side near a small ledge, which was formed by small pieces of rock (Plate IX:4)" (121).
Photo © Alexander Gallus, in Wright, R. V. S. (ed.). 1971. Archaeology of the Gallus Site, Koonalda Cave. Canberra: Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies: plate VIII, p. 112.
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