Underwater Cave Bones Reveal Hidden Clues About Ancient Fossils

Griffith University researchers compared animal bones from flooded and dry caves in South Australia and found distinct preservation patterns linked to light, water, microbes, plants, and cave conditions.

Using radiocarbon-dated remains and multiple analytical methods, they developed a framework for interpreting how submerged fossil deposits accumulate and change over time.

The findings give archaeologists and paleontologists a new way to reconstruct submerged cave site formation and better understand the environments that preserved megafauna and other remains.