Fine resolution AMS 14C chronology for Lunette-Lake sediment sequences, Lake Bolac, Victoria

This study aims to provide a fine-resolution chronology for lake sediment records from Lakes Bolac and Turangmoroke, located within the drier part of the Western Plains, Victoria. These lakes are expected to be sensitive to subtle climate and vegetation variability and have long been recognised as archaeologically rich, bearing stone tools, hearth and other cultural materials dated to the late Pleistocene (Horton, 1984; former Victorian Aboriginal Survey, unpublished data). Fine-resolution chronological control has rarely been attempted in this sedimentary and (semi-arid) climatic context owing to the paucity of material available for conventional 14C dating. However, pollen and microscopic charcoal in the lake sediments at Bolac and Turangmoroke are suitable for AMS age determination with the most important sedimentary section well within the range of 14C making them ideal records for such a study. Recent dating results, which have substantially increased chronostratigraphic interpretation of concurrent palaeoecological and sedimentological work in progress, are presented