From the caves of the Nullarbor Plain have come many well-preserved bones of animals which lived thousands of years ago.  The Nullarbor is a region of karst topography (an area of limestone infiltrated by numerous caves created by the drainage of water over many millennia).  Animals often wandered into these caves and were unable to make their way out.  The dry conditions within the caves have often maintained animal remains in a remarkable state of preservation.  A nearly intact, mummified thylacine was discovered in one of the caves in 1969.

Shown below are dorsal and palatal views of a Holocene-age thylacine skull recovered from a Nullarbor cave (photos © and courtesy of Lindsay Hatcher).  Although not old enough to be mineralized, this skull is ancient - far older than the specimens shown in the following pages of the Holocene subsection, which date from the late 19th to early 20th centuries.