page_title: Ngarrabullgan
section_title: Archaeological sites
hierarchical_section_title: Ngarrabullgan / Archaeological sites
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo taken of excavation site up on Ngarrabullgan during a visit during 1991
context_page_description: Ngarrabullgan, officially named Mount Mulligan by the State, is a large tabletop mountain located 100 kilometres west of Cairns in the north of Queensland.
  The tabletop mountain is a monolith bounded by high cliffs that fall 200 to 400 m to the surrounding Hodgkinson Basin, making it an impressive natural monument which is regarded by the local Djungan Aboriginal peoples to be a sacred 'Dreaming' place, and features in the mythological legends and beliefs of other Aboriginal groups for hundreds of kilometres around.
  On the tabletop itself are found the two oldest-known Aboriginal sites in Queensland: Nonda Rock and Ngarrabullgan Cave. Here Aboriginal cultural deposits have been radiocarbon dated, and dated by optically stimulated luminescence, back to 40,000+ years ago.
  Other ancient Aboriginal rockshelter sites on the mountain have been dated to the end of the last Ice Age, and, together, the many 'archaeological' caves and rockshelters found in and around Ngarrabullgan constitutes Queensland's greatest density of known sites dating back more than 4,000 years BP.
context_section_description: Published archaeological sites (listed in rough geographical order, generally running from north to south).:
  Initiation Cave
  Gorge Creek Shelter
  Waterhole Cave
  Ngarrabullgan Cave
  Nonda Rock
  Quinine Bush Shelter
  Kookaburra Rock
  Courtyard Rock
  Dragonfly Hollow
  Fig Tree Shelter
  Hand Shelter:
  Grass Tree Shelter
  Lookout Shelter
  Painted Ell
  Tunnell Shelter
  Bush Peg Shelter
caption: Ngarrabullgan Rockshelter Excavation Site
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