Research Commons
      • Browse 
        • Communities & Collections
        • Titles
        • Authors
        • By Issue Date
        • Subjects
        • Types
        • Series
      • Help 
        • About
        • Collection Policy
        • OA Mandate Guidelines
        • Guidelines FAQ
        • Contact Us
      • My Account 
        • Sign In
        • Register
      View Item 
      •   Research Commons
      • University of Waikato Research
      • Science and Engineering
      • Science and Engineering Papers
      • View Item
      •   Research Commons
      • University of Waikato Research
      • Science and Engineering
      • Science and Engineering Papers
      • View Item
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

      Determining the age of paintings at JSARN–113/23, Jawoyn Country, central-western Arnhem Land plateau

      David, Bruno O.; Delannoy, Jean-Jacques; Gunn, Robert; Brady, Liam M.; Petchey, Fiona; Mialanes, Jerome; Chalmin, Emilie; Geneste, Jean-Michel; Moffat, Ian; Aplin, Ken; Katherine, Margaret
      Thumbnail
      Files
      chapter 14 Fiona Petchey.pdf
      Published version, 6.063Mb
      DOI
       10.22459/TA47.11.2017
      Find in your library  
      Citation
      Export citation
      David, B., Delannoy, J.-J., Gunn, R., Brady, L. M., Petchey, F., Mialanes, J., … Katherine, M. (2017). Determining the age of paintings at JSARN–113/23, Jawoyn Country, central-western Arnhem Land plateau. In B. David, P. S. C. Tacon, J.-J. Delannoy, & J.-M. Geneste (Eds.), The Archaeology of Rock Art in Western Arnhem Land, Australia (pp. 371–422). ANU Press. https://doi.org/10.22459/TA47.11.2017
      Permanent Research Commons link: https://hdl.handle.net/10289/11754
      Abstract
      Western Arnhem Land in northern Australia has the rare distinction, both at national and global scales, of containing a vast landscape of many thousands of rockshelters richly decorated with art, some of which was probably made tens of thousands of years ago, others as recently as a few decades ago. Yet the challenge remains as to how to date this art, how to find out how old it is. While relative dating methods have been commonly applied, in particular patterns of superimposition and changing faunal themes supposedly signalling changing environmental conditions, we still lack a clear understanding of the age of almost all the region’s art styles or conventions.

      Other chapters in this volume report direct dates for Arnhem Land art using radiocarbon determinations on beeswax figures with the likelihood that the ‘art event’, the time when a beeswax figure was made, is at most a few years different from the ‘carbon event’, the time of the last biological capture of atmospheric carbon, which is the actual date measured by radiocarbon. But many, in fact most, sites have no beeswax figures or other ways directly to date the art. Sometimes, as again reported in this volume, there is some indication of date when a radiocarbon determination is obtained on, for instance, charcoal in an archaeological deposit that can be related to the art. Often that route is also blocked: many a painted surface without beeswax figures is in no close relation to a deposit that might so be dated. What can be done then?

      Here we present results of investigations at a small rockshelter in Jawoyn Country, in the centralwestern part of the Arnhem Land plateau. Since its art cannot be directly dated, we follow a different path. In the first instance, we aim to understand the history, and antiquity, of the decorated rock surfaces, since the exposed surfaces of the boulder have undergone repeated transformations over a long time. Determining when now-decorated rock surfaces were formed can give us maximum possible ages for the art, since we can date when the surface first was available. Taken with related archaeological evidence from deposits, such as ochre fragments with signs of use, we can arrive at some indications for the age of the art, or at least how the range of possible dates is constrained. This approach is akin to that used at other sites in Jawoyn Country (see Chapters 11 and 15)
      Date
      2017
      Type
      Chapter in Book
      Publisher
      ANU Press
      Rights
      © 2017 copyright with the authors.
      Collections
      • Science and Engineering Papers [3124]
      Show full item record  

      Usage

      Downloads, last 12 months
      68
       
       
       

      Usage Statistics

      For this itemFor all of Research Commons

      The University of Waikato - Te Whare Wānanga o WaikatoFeedback and RequestsCopyright and Legal Statement