Excavations at Roonka Flat, in the lower Murray Valley of South Australia, between 1968 and 1977 have recorded an important series of prehistoric human remains from Holocene and Late Pleistocene times (Fig. 1). The chronological range of the sites, based on radiometrie dating, extends from c. 200 BP to 20,000 BP. Of the five sites investigated, three yielded fossil human remains. All had been disturbed by recent erosion, but the two best preserved sites produced stratified sequences. Burial mode varied with depth, and a significant number of tombs contained ornaments, objects and offerings (Pretty 1977). The analysis of the population is ongoing. A preliminary report based upon the material then available for study has been published by one of us (Prokopec 1979) and a fuller report is in preparation. Pietrusewsky (1979, 1984) has commented on the comparative morphology of the crania, and aspects of the trauma and pathology have been the subject of specialist communications (Campbell and Prokopec 1984; Pounder, Prokopec and Pretty 1983; Prokopec et al 1984; Simpson et al. 1984). Some comments on the dentition in advance of this study have already appeared (Smith et al 1981, Smith 1982). Because of the long period covered, the Roonka population provides an unmatched resource of information upon diachronic trends in prehistoric human morphology and pathology within a localised region in Australia. In this study we have examined tooth size and morphology in order to determine the extent of microevolutionary change and/or population replacement at Roonka over the past 8000 years. We have also examined dental pathology to evaluate cultural practices and the severity of environmental stresses in so far as they affect the dentition. Specifically we have examined the evidence for intentional dental avulsion, as well as determining the prevalence of hypoplasia, caries attrition, tooth loss and anomalies. The sites investigated at this locality extend across a full transect of the Murray Gorge. The population remains derive from the Roonka Flat Dune, North Roonka Flat and the South Dune on East Bank. Both Roonka Flat Dune and North Roonka Flat rest on an elevated terrace of older stream fill against the now-eroded slopes of the western valley wall, while the South Dune on East Bank rests on the plateau surface opposite above the gorge near the cliff edge. By the close of excavation in 1977, preliminary stratigraphie analysis had distinguished three periods of mortuary practice. The earliest, Roonka I, was represented in Trench 1 of the South Dune on East Bank. This was assigned to the Late Pleistocene.