Gabarnmung
| Nawarla Gabarnmung | |
 location in Australia
location in Australia
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| Location | south-western Arnhem Land, Top End, Northern Territory |
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| Region | Australia |
| Coordinates | 12°10′6.6″S 133°50′0.6″E / 12.168500°S 133.833500°ECoordinates: 12°10′6.6″S 133°50′0.6″E / 12.168500°S 133.833500°E |
| History | |
| Associated with | Indigenous Australians |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 2010 |
| Archaeologists | Bruno David, Jean-Michel Geneste, Jean-Jacques Delanoy |
Gabarnmung, or Nawarla Gabarnmung, is an Aboriginal archaeological and rock art site in south-western Arnhem Land, in the Top End of Australia’s Northern Territory. The meaning of the name is "hole in the rock", "passageway", or "valley open from the centre".
Gabarnmung lies at a remote location on the traditional lands of the Jawoyn people, east of Kakadu National Park. The only way to access the site is by helicopter. The rock shelter was constructed by tunneling into a naturally eroded cliff face that created a 19 m × 19 m (62 ft × 62 ft) sub-horizontal ceiling ranging in height from 1.75 to 2.45 m (5.7 to 8.0 ft) above floor level, the roof is supported by 36 pillars created by the natural erosion of fissure lines in the bedrock. Investigation has shown that some pre-existing pillars were removed, some were reshaped and some moved to new positions. In some areas ceiling slabs were removed and repainted by the people who used the cave. Tool marks on the ceiling and pillars clearly illustrate that the modifications served dual purposes, to providing a living space and to facilitate the removal of rock which was discarded down a talus slope.
The floor is covered with soil, a mix of ash from fires, fine sand, silt, and locally fragmented rock to a depth of approximately 70 cm (28 in) which lies in seven distinct horizontal stratigraphic layers. A slab of painted rock which fell to the floor had ash adhering which was radiocarbon dated at 27,631 ±717 years Cal BP which indicates that the ceiling must have been painted before 28,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal excavated from the lowest stratigraphic layer returned a mean age of 35,400 ±410 years BP while the six upper layers had been deposited over the last 20,000 years. However, radiocarbon dating of charcoal excavated from the base of the lowest stratigraphic layer of the floor returned a mean age of 45,189 ±1089 years Cal BP suggesting the oldest date for the earliest human habitation. Faceted and use-striated hematite crayons have been recovered from nearby locations (Malakunanja II and Nauwalabila 1) in strata dated from 45,000 to 60,000 years old which suggests that the Gabarnmung shelter may have been decorated from its inception.
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