Mootha - A new cave art site near Mount Gambier: Preliminary report
Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: Mootha is a joint-controlled cave orientated almost due N-S. There are nine 'windows', some very large, through the roof of the horizontal passage, thus making it a relatively well-lit cave (Fig. 1). Remains of solution tubes, now blocked to the surface, have extensive animal claw marks in them that probably date back to the time before the collapse of the present main entrance. My first visit to this cave was in 1960, as a school child. It was not until I revisited this cave in 1994 when I located the extensive rock art (Figs 2 and 3). The name I chose for the site, Mootha Cave, derives from the Booandik word for a prominent small blackwood tree above the passage (Smith 1880). There are currently nearly forty cave art sites known in the Mount Gambier limestone karst area and the adjacent western district of Victoria (Bednarik et al. 2003). Since the early settlement of the district, hundreds of caves have been found, many of which have been filled in, some were re-found later.
Source: Rock Art Research
Author: Geoffrey D. Aslin
Language: English
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2259535181