Ancient fossil DNA dating back to the last ice age has been discovered at the Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Area –and scientists hope there might be even older material to unearth.
Rare Ancient DNA (aDNA) has been recovered from very few cave – fossil sites in Australia, including Kelly Hill Caves on Kangaroo Island.
South Australian Sustainability, Environment and Conservation Minister Ian Hunter said the aDNA found at Naracoorte Caves was retrieved from fossils dating up to 18,000 years old.
“The new findings show there is still much to learn from the fossil record, as scientists increasingly look to the past to better understand how to conserve biodiversity today;” Minister Hunter commented “With this aDNA, scientists can look to identify species how individual populations have responded to global warming and evolutionary relationships between species. Bird species previously unknown from the caves – the fantail and the bronzewing pigeon – were detected, providing a direct link to them from the present day to the past”
Lead research author, Alicia Grealy of Curtin University, said the use of aDNA was becoming more common, and has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the past.“New DNA sequencing techniques combined with a novel method of extracting DNA from many small, broken and unidentifiable fossil bones has meant we were able to retrieve highly degraded DNA from Naracoorte fossil bone for the first time,” Ms Grealy said.
Ms Grealy went on to explain that the preservation of ancient DNA has a lot to do with the conditions under which the bones were fossilized. Caves, like those at the Naracoorte World Heritage Area, are generally good environments because they are cool and maintain fairly constant conditions over time.”
Minister Hunter explained that the discovery comes as Naracoorte Caves is set to benefit from $175,000 funding this financial year under the Australian Government’s Tourism Demand Driver Infrastructure programme (TDDI). Minister Hunter added that with the State Government also providing $175,000, a total of $300,000 will see facilities upgraded with the design and construction of a loop walk in the main visitor precinct, to allow people in wheelchairs or pushing prams to view the caves from new observation platforms. The funds will also support an upgrade of the World Heritage-listed Victoria Fossil Cave Precinct.

The research was recently published in the Journal of Quaternary Science.