Warratyi Shelter Hid Ancient Footprints

In 2011, a man named Clifford Coulthard accidentally found the ancient Warratyi rock shelter in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges while looking for a toilet. He was surveying the area with archaeologist Giles Hamm when he walked into a gorge and noticed a spring, rock art, and signs of ancient human use. Researchers dated the site to about 49,000 years ago, making it the oldest known evidence of human habitation in inland Australia. The discovery pushed back the known settlement of Australia’s arid interior by about 10,000 years and revealed early evidence of tools, ochre use, and interaction with megafauna.

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