Australia’s oldest Aboriginal rock art identified

Recently, a kangaroo painting was identified in Australia with the help of some ancient wasps. The kangaroo painting was created over 17,000 years ago by Aboriginal community artists. The painting was identified as Australia’s oldest intact rock art.

Highlights

• The painting is a two-metre-long artwork.
• It was discovered on the sloped ceiling of rock shelter in Kimberley region of Western Australia.
• This artwork was painted in an early naturalistic style.
• The naturalistic style often features the life-sized renderings of animals.
• The kangaroo painting is somewhat 17,500 and 17,100 years old.
• The team discovered around 27 mud wasp nests along 16 different paintings from across the eight rock shelters.

Indigenous Australian art

This art includes the art made by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This art form comprises of the works in a wide range of media such as paintings on leaves, wood carving, bark painting, watercolour painting, rock carving, ceremonial clothing, sculpting and sand painting. This is the art by Indigenous Australians that dates back to pre-European colonisation by thousands of years.

Aboriginal Australians

They are the Indigenous peoples of Australian mainland and its islands like Fraser Island, Tasmania, Tiwi Island, Hinchinbrook Island and Groote Eylandt. This term refers to the Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders jointly.

Rock art

The rock art includes the painting and carving which can be found at sites throughout Australia. The oldest rock art is found in Pilbara region of the Western Australia and Olary district of South Australia. These arts are estimated to be around 40,000 years old.

Kimberley Region

It is the northernmost region among the nine regions of Western Australia. The region is bordered by Indian Ocean to the west, Timor Sea to the North, Great Sandy to the south. It was named after Secretary of State for the Colonies John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley by the government surveyor Alexander Forrest in 1879.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2021