Initial estimates of the age of the eruption of Budj Bim were all minimum ages, based on swamps that formed some time after the eruption and ranged from 6,000 to 27,000 years BP. Later evidence suggested that the eruption was at least 30,000 BP (using dated sediments in the floor of the Lake Surprise crater) and could have been as long as 40,000 years ago for the Tyrendarra lava flow. Research published in February 2020 using argon-argon dating, a method of radiometric dating, has dated the eruption at around 36,900 years ago. Specifically, Budj Bim was dated at within 3,100 years either side of 36,900 years BP, and Tower Hill was dated at within 3,800 years either side of 36,800 years BP. Significantly, owing to the presence of human artefacts found under volcanic ash at Tower Hill, this is a minimum age constraint for human presence in Victoria, and also could be interpreted as evidence for the Gunditjmara oral histories which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of the oldest oral traditions in existence.