Overview
- High‑resolution microCT, updated radiometric dating and microscopic fracture analysis show the V‑shaped notch was cut after the kangaroo tibia had fossilized.
- The team concludes the mark likely resulted from extracting or handling a dry fossil rather than butchering a fresh carcass.
- An X‑rayed diprotodontid tooth mounted as a charm closely matches Mammoth Cave fossils, indicating fossils were collected and transported over long distances.
- The authors say there remains no hard evidence that human predation caused continent‑wide extinctions, with climate change still a credible contributor.
- Co‑author Michael Archer, who advanced the 1980 butchery interpretation, now withdraws that claim and urges updating the scientific record.