The Alcoota Fossil Beds of the Waites Formation are located approximately 110Km NE of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia at the Alcoota Scientific Reserve at the Alcoota cattle station owned by the Alyawarr and Anmatyerre Aboriginal peoples. Overlooking the Adelaide Plains the Alcoota Fossil Beds were discovered in the 1950's. This 20-meter-thick deposit has two successive mammal assemblages of megafauna firstly in a lower lake deposit of siltstones overlayed by a sandy river deposit capped with an ancient soil or paleosol of chalcedonic fibrous textured limestone. Among the megafauna is a gigantic flightless bird and many extinct species of carnivorous and herbivorous marsupials some who are the ancestors of modern wombats and koalas living alongside birds, possums, crocodiles and kangaroos.
Together the Waitean Australian Land Mammal Age is dated at between 10.4 - 5 million years ago during the Late Miocene Epoch when the polar caps grew, sea levels regressed and there was a gradual shift away from the prevailing rainforest ecosystems by the process of desertification to more open and arid landscapes where animals and plants had to evolve and adapt to survive.
It is believed that the Alcoota Fossil Site was once a clayey waterhole where wildlife gathered in unsustainable numbers to quench their thirst during dry the season. Unfortunately, has the lake shrank and the availability of water became increasingly scarce through drought this led to a large number of animals dying and their remains being collected in the sediments. Interestingly, most of the bones appear to be complete, unsorted and disarticulated and show no signs of weathering before they were buried.
Alice Springs is the third largest town in the Red Centre of the Northern Territory of Australia after Darwin and Palmerston. Located amidst the MacDonnell Ranges the town of Alice Springs has been described as a place where, “Australia’s heart beats, a place of fiery sunsets and ancient stories”.
Alice Springs is simply the epitome of a long weekend travel destination to experience the outback and a gateway town to connect with the ancient Aboriginal culture of Tjukurpa about Uluru or engage with the past and present wildlife of the Alcoota Fossil Beds or Alice Springs Desert Park. Accessible by direct internal flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Darwin to Alice Springs Airport the journey generally takes between 2 - 3 hours depending on your starting point.
Alternatively, you can travel in comfort on one of Australia's most scenic rail adventures known as “The Ghan” named after early 20th century Afghan cameleers who were experienced in transporting goods and supplies across vast distances of the Australian outback before the arrival of the Central Australian Railway. The Ghan journeys for four-days and three-nights covering nearly 3,000Km between Adelaide and Darwin with a stop in Alice Springs. Advance bookings are recommended, especially for peak seasons or luxury cabins.
If you are more inclined to take a road trip both Darwin and Adelaide are roughly 1,500Km away along the Stuart Highway – longer routes can be navigated from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Driving the Stuart Highway offers stunning scenery and an unforgettable journey through the Australian outback. Careful planning and responsible driving will ensure a safe and enjoyable trip.
If you intend to spend longer in the region then hiking one of the twelve sections of the 230Km Larapinta Trail is a must-do. Starting out from the Alice Springs Telegraph Station just north of the Town heads out west along the ridge of Tjoritja (pronounced Choor-it-ja) or the West MacDonnell Ranges - Park Fees apply - towards the summit destination of Mount Sonder (1,380 Metres) or Rwetyepme the fourth highest mountain in the Northern Territory. It is recommended to give each section one to two days to walk.
The reward of hiking the Larapinta Trail are views of places such as Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm and Ormiston Gorge and always being mindful that these places have spiritual importance to the traditional owners the Arrernte Aboriginal people. If you decide to trek east to west be sure to organise a pick up with a trek support company.
The Alcoota Fossil Site is only one of three known vertebrate fossil sites in the Northern Territory of Australia in addition to the Kangaroo Well Site on Deep Well Station dated to the Late Oligocene Epoch and Bullock Creek Fossil Site on Camfield Station.
The Alcoota Fossil Beds are protected as an invaluable scientific resource under the Northern Territory’s heritage legislation with research undertaken and displayed by the Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory in Alice Springs at the Discovery Centre's "Megafauna Central" exhibition.
The Waite Formation is found within a small intermontane basin or a small valley between mountain ranges that has been over time been filled with river and lake sediments. The Waite basin is surrounded by the Arunta Block of Early Proterozoic basement rocks formed over 1,800 million years ago of granulite that have been heavily deformed and metamorphosed. The Alcoota Fossil Bed covers an area over 6.5 acres where the fossils have been discovered in Paine Quarry, South Pit, Main Pit and a pit called Shattered Dreams.
Among the most prominent fossils found in the Alcoota Fossil Beds are those of the Diprotodontidae a family of large, herbivorous vombatiforme marsupials that are closely related to modern day wombats and koalas. The fossils include Diprotodon the largest marsupial to have ever lived as well as the smaller Kolopsis torus and Plaisiodon centralis. These animals were likely browsers, feeding on vegetation in a landscape transitioning from lush wetlands to more open woodlands. The robust jaws and specialised teeth of these species reflect adaptations to grinding tougher plant materials.
The Alcoota Fossil Bed holds fossils belonging to the Dromornithidae a family of giant, flightless birds often referred to as “Thunderbirds” or “mihirungs” known as Dromornis stirtoni. These birds were over 3 meters in height and weighed well over 500Kg. While there is ongoing debate in the research about their diet the structure of their beaks suggests they were primarily herbivorous or omnivorous.
No watering hole would not be complete without its apex predators such as the Thylacoleonids or "marsupial lions" preying on smaller mammals. The Alcoota Fossil Beds includes fossils of predatory marsupials including species Thylacoleo carnifex the largest known carnivorous Australian mammal; Thylacinus potens that was larger than the Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus), the Wakaleo alcootense and the much smaller Priscileo roskellyae the size of a full-grown domestic cat.
The Alcoota Fossil Beds help to illustrate when large marsupial herbivores adapted to a variety of diets that reflect a time in the Late Miocene when global climate changed and shaped Australia’s modern arid outback landscape.