New Microfossil Discoveries at Carpenters Gap 1 and 3 Archaeological Sites, Kimberley, Australia Reveal Exploratory Records of Helminth Parasite Eggs Since c. 30,000 yr BP

No previous palaeo-parasitological research has been carried out at Australian archaeological sites to date, in contrast to elsewhere in Oceania, where multiple archipelagos have been investigated. In this exploratory study, we examine sedimentary strata from two archaeological sites in Western Australia. The sites are rockshelters with Pleistocene sequences extending into the Holocene: Carpenters Gap 1 and 3. Eggs of two helminth parasite taxa were identified at both sites: (1) Toxocara sp. from fruit bats or the dingo, and (2) Dasyurotaenia robusta from the Tasmanian devil, and D. dasyuri from quolls. At this very early stage of the research, we cannot rule out other possible, not yet described hosts, as our current knowledge of quoll parasites is still very limited, and we know of undescribed quoll cestodes from Papua New Guinea. The eggs could have been deposited in the rockshelters by hosts sheltering, nesting, or roosting there; by prey acquisition by the people living in the shelter; or by a combination of these. These are the first pre-European contact records of helminth parasites for Australia and suggest potential for assisting the determination of the former geographic ranges of host taxa, as well as human-animal interactions.