Tarragal Caves (original) (raw)
The Tarragal Caves are a network of large limestone caves and rockshelters which overlook the Bridgewater Lakes near the towns of Tarragal and Cape Bridgewater, Victoria in the Charles La Trobe and are near Discovery Bay Coastal Park. The caves were identified as important Aboriginal camping places early in the historic period, and were excavated in the late 1970s by Harry Lourandos, revealing stratified deposits in the floor of 11,300 years old, along with shell midden deposits and earth ovens over 11,000 years old.
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| dbo:abstract | The Tarragal Caves are a network of large limestone caves and rockshelters which overlook the Bridgewater Lakes near the towns of Tarragal and Cape Bridgewater, Victoria in the Charles La Trobe and are near Discovery Bay Coastal Park. The caves were identified as important Aboriginal camping places early in the historic period, and were excavated in the late 1970s by Harry Lourandos, revealing stratified deposits in the floor of 11,300 years old, along with shell midden deposits and earth ovens over 11,000 years old. Located just off the Bridgewater Lakes Road, and accessible in part by walking track, the cave openings form a series of galleries with clear views across the surrounding landscape and lakes. One of the caves extends under ground for over 400 m (1,300 ft) and has a sinkhole opening to the surface so that there is a constant stream of air through the cave and rising up the hole. It is said that whenever Aborigines approached this, they would a piece of wood into the hole to "propitiate the demon supposed to reside within its profound and mysterious depths." Colonial administrator Charles La Trobe visited the site in 1845 and 1846, and had some of his men lower a rope ladder over the cliff so he could explore the caves. He also provided a detailed description in 1846, noting that "...the ‘natives’ referred to it as ‘Lubras’ Cave’" and that they "...knew the caverns well and ...had a superstitious dread of them, stating that the caverns below were inhabited by headless lubras". LaTrobe noted that when they came to the point under the sink hole there was a large pile of timber, assumed to be the items thrown down by Aborigines over the ages. They then set fire to the pile lighting up the cave "... and displayed a magnificent vaulted chamber, bedecked with long glistening stalactites, and tenanted by vast numbers of bats, whose whirring, whizzing noise was probably that which the natives attributed to some supernatural being." An early etching depicting an Aboriginal family in the cave entrance was probably inspired by La Trobe's record. Pollen analysis of sediments in the cave has assisted in reconstructing the Pleistocene climate and environment of the region and understanding what resources were available to Aborigines. (en) |
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| dbo:wikiPageRevisionID | 1055737910 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbc:Pleistocene_paleontological_sites_of_Australia dbr:Josephine_Flood dbr:Cape_Bridgewater,_Victoria dbr:Limestone dbr:Cloggs_Cave dbc:History_of_Victoria_(Australia) dbr:Australia dbr:Buchan_Caves dbc:Rock_shelters_in_Australia dbr:Harry_Lourandos dbc:Limestone_caves dbr:Charles_La_Trobe dbr:Discovery_Bay_Coastal_Park dbr:Pleistocene dbc:Caves_of_Victoria_(Australia) dbr:New_Guinea_II_cave dbr:Caves dbr:Rockshelter |
| dbp:archaeologists | dbr:Harry_Lourandos |
| dbp:date | December 2015 (en) September 2012 (en) |
| dbp:excavations | 1970.0 |
| dbp:imageSize | 240 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:location | near the towns of Tarragal and Cape Bridgewater, Victoria (en) |
| dbp:mapAlt | Tarragal Caves (en) |
| dbp:mapCaption | location in Australia (en) |
| dbp:mapSize | 240 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:mapType | Australia (en) |
| dbp:name | Tarragal Caves (en) |
| dbp:reason | vague (en) no caves this size at Tarragal, suspect the Chauncy reference must be to another area in the district area, e.g. Bats Ridge (en) |
| dbp:region | dbr:Australia |
| dbp:relief | yes (en) |
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| dcterms:subject | dbc:Pleistocene_paleontological_sites_of_Australia dbc:History_of_Victoria_(Australia) dbc:Rock_shelters_in_Australia dbc:Limestone_caves dbc:Caves_of_Victoria_(Australia) |
| gold:hypernym | dbr:Network |
| georss:point | -38.31863888888889 141.40777777777777 |
| rdf:type | dbo:Broadcaster yago:WikicatArchaeologicalSitesInAustralia yago:WikicatCavesOfAustralia yago:WikicatLimestoneCaves geo:SpatialThing yago:WikicatRockShelters yago:Artifact100021939 yago:Cave109238926 yago:GeographicalArea108574314 yago:GeologicalFormation109287968 yago:Location100027167 yago:Object100002684 yago:PhysicalEntity100001930 yago:Region108630985 yago:YagoGeoEntity yago:YagoLegalActorGeo yago:YagoPermanentlyLocatedEntity yago:Shelter104191595 yago:Site108651247 yago:Structure104341686 yago:Tract108673395 yago:Whole100003553 yago:WikicatPleistocenePaleontologicalSitesOfAustralia |
| rdfs:comment | The Tarragal Caves are a network of large limestone caves and rockshelters which overlook the Bridgewater Lakes near the towns of Tarragal and Cape Bridgewater, Victoria in the Charles La Trobe and are near Discovery Bay Coastal Park. The caves were identified as important Aboriginal camping places early in the historic period, and were excavated in the late 1970s by Harry Lourandos, revealing stratified deposits in the floor of 11,300 years old, along with shell midden deposits and earth ovens over 11,000 years old. (en) |
| rdfs:label | Tarragal Caves (en) |
| owl:sameAs | freebase:Tarragal Caves yago-res:Tarragal Caves wikidata:Tarragal Caves http://arz.dbpedia.org/resource/كهوف_طراغال https://global.dbpedia.org/id/4vNUy |
| geo:geometry | POINT(141.40777587891 -38.3186378479) |
| geo:lat | -38.318638 (xsd:float) |
| geo:long | 141.407776 (xsd:float) |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:Tarragal_Caves?oldid=1055737910&ns=0 |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:Tarragal_Caves |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink of | dbr:List_of_archaeological_sites_by_country dbr:List_of_caves dbr:List_of_caves_in_Australia dbr:Aboriginal_sites_of_Victoria |
| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:Tarragal_Caves |