Dating Aboriginal Rock Art
Dating the rock art
Internationally significant – possibly the oldest rock art in the world
One of the most crucial and largely unanswered questions about the remarkable rock art record of the Kimberley region is the age at which the various styles of art were produced. Present estimates based on very limited AMS radiocarbon and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dates are tantalising, but scattered and, for the most part, not entirely convincing. Notwithstanding the importance of these studies, therefore, the problem remains largely unresolved.
The OSL dating of wasps nests fossilised above Bradshaw / Gwion art panels has indicated ages of more than 25,000-35,000 years before the present [BP]. These results are unpublished but they suggest the extreme age of some of the rock art while generating a host of questions about the origins, social organisation and culture of the painters.
The Australian science community has not yet convinced the international community the definitive age of Bradshaw/Gwion art. In France, for example, five sites have yielded a total of forty Pleistocene (12,000 year BP) dates. In Australia, we have one published date and thousands of sites; the only published date is a partly fossilised wasp nest attached to one of the paintings dated at 17,000 years old. It is clear it is not sufficient to assert the art is Pleistocene.
One of KFA’s aims is to focus the best expertise and modern technologies on the search for answers to date the rock art of the Kimberley.
A long term view, a need for effective indigenous participation, and multiple techniques and validation studies are essential for the success of any dating project. Research has recently commenced on a chronology of the region and we are working collaboratively with archaeologists and geochronologists to understand the nature and charaterisation of the rock art.
Definitive results will have a major influence on establishing the history of human settlement of the Kimberley region, and the cultural, climatic and ecological context in which migrations and occupation occurred.
Rock Art Dating Project
Stage 1: Characterisation and Geomicrobiology of rock art
Led by Prof Andy Gleadow with Dr John Moreau (University of Melbourne) and Prof John Dodson (ANSTO)
Kimberley Rock Art Surveyors
In July 2011 KFA hosted a gathering of 30 amateurs and academics to ascertain how much of the Kimberley has been searched and how thoroughly; to compare recording methodologies and terminology with a view to standardising both and to start a discussion about the desirability of a central data base for the Kimberley.
Such work can only proceed in concert with traditional owners and an important objective is to provide the indigenous people of the Kimberley with an additional source of scientific information complementing traditional knowledge.
