Pollen Analysis of Sediments from the Bridgewater Caves Archaeological Site, Southwestern Victoria

Pollen analysis of sediment samples from archaeological sites, whether to provide environmental background or to address particular problems of the prehistory, has become commonplace in other parts of the world (e.g. Griffin 1961; Martin and Byers 1965; Schoenwetter 1974a; Dimbleby 1976; Fall et al. 1981; Bryant and Holloway 1983), but is still in its infancy in Australia. This paper presents the results of pollen analysis of sediments from the Bridgewater Caves, in the far southwest corner of Victoria, which were excavated by Harry Lourandos (1976, 1980, 1983) between 1975 and 1977.