Daryl Wesley

A Minimum Age for Early Depictions of Southeast Asian Praus in the Rock Art of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory

Abstract In 2008, we began two related research projects that focus on recent Australian rock art, made after the arrival of Asians and Europeans, in part of northwest Arnhem Land’s Wellington Range. This area has extensive and diverse rock art, including many examples of paintings that reflect contact between local Aboriginal people and visitors to their shores. At some sites figures made of beeswax are found superimposed under and over paintings, thus providing a means of obtaining minimum and maximum ages for pigment art. We report on the results of an initial radiocarbon beeswax dating programme at the Djulirri site complex. Results include the earliest age for a depiction of a Southeast Asian watercraft in Australian rock art, which is also Australia’s earliest contact period rock art depiction discovered so far. Based on the probability distribution of the calibrated ages, it is 99.7% probable this image dates to before AD 1664 and likely is much older. The significance of this result is discussed in relation to early contact history, as revealed by historic documents and archaeological excavation. Other important results suggest a close encounter between local Aboriginal people and Europeans occurred in the 1700s, before British exploration and settlement in the Arnhem Land region.

Painting History: Indigenous Observations and Depictions of the 'Other' in Northwestern Arnhem Land, Australia

Abstract In this paper we focus on contact rock paintings from three sites in northwestern Arnhem Land, Australia. In doing so we highlight that such sites provide some of the only contemporary Indigenous accounts of cross-cultural encounters that took place across northern Australia through the last 500 years. Importantly, they have the potential to inform us about the ongoing relationships that existed between different parties. The lack of research on contact rock art is emphasised and the development of a large-scale project (of which this fieldwork is part) aimed at addressing this problem is outlined. Important new findings for contact rock art are presented, including evidence for ‘traditional’ protocols relating to rock art continuing long after first contact, evidence for particular contact period subject matter dominating in art of this region, and the oldest date yet recorded for contact art in Australia.

Pigment geochemistry as chronological marker: The case of lead pigment in rock art in the Urrmarning ‘Red Lily Lagoon’ rock art precinct, western Arnhem Land

Abstract This paper presents selected results of an experimental study using portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) for the non-destructive analysis of rock art pigments in northern Australia. During two weeks of fieldwork in the dry season of 2011 at the Red Lily Lagoon area in western Arnhem Land, 32 rock art motifs in four rockshelter sites were analysed. A total of 640 analyses were undertaken, including of white, red, black, yellow and blue pigments from both early and contact art motifs. This paper discusses the geochemical analysis of one particular motif painted with black pigment. It was determined that processed metal lead was the most likely pigment base. Contrary to previous stylistic analysis that suggested the motif had an old age, our analysis suggests that the motif was painted within the last 200–300 years.

‘Small, individually nondescript and easily overlooked’1: Contact beads from northwest Arnhem Land in an Indigenous–Macassan–European hybrid economy

Abstract This paper examines the interactions between Indigenous traditional owners, Macassan trepangers and European settlers in northwest Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. The recovery of an assemblage of beads from six archaeological sites within the Manganowal estate (Djulirri, Malarrak 1, Malarrak 4, Bald Rock 1, Bald Rock 2 and Bald Rock 3) in the Wellington Range, supports the case for the introduction of these items to Arnhem Land in the pre-Mission era context. We present descriptions of one stone and 28 glass beads/bead fragments and examine the significance of the exchange of these items and how they became incorporated into existing Indigenous cultural systems. This archaeological evidence is assessed in concert with the historical, ethnographic, linguistic and anthropological records. We interpret this within the framework of a hybrid economy between Indigenous people, Europeans and Macassans (Altman 2001, 2006, 2007).

How old is X-ray art? Minimum age determinations for early X-ray rock art from the ‘Red Lily’ (Wulk) Lagoon rock art precinct, western Arnhem Land

A central and fundamental issue in rock art research is where the art is placed in space and time (David et al. 2013). Discovering and applying new techniques to understand motif styles and their chronology will provide us with this information. Here we use a ‘cabled’ methodology (see Chippindale and Taçon 1998:93), where multiple lines of evidence are developed together, by combining absolute and relative dating techniques. Absolute radiocarbon dates are made on two different substances that have been related with relative dates derived by assessing motif superimpositions, the stylistic analysis of motifs and degrees of preservation. Combined, the absolute and relative methods provide reliable dates for the painted motifs on a rock art panel at Red Lily Lagoon Site 3 (see Figure 2.1). Radiocarbon dates were obtained for mineral accretions suspected to contain the minerals whewellite and whedellite (both are hydrated forms of calcium oxalate CaC2O4, and called hereafter ‘calcium oxalate’), and from preserved non-reactive organics contained within ancient mud wasp nest stumps. This is the first attempt to apply radiocarbon dating to these two different materials, calcium oxalate and mud wasp nests, directly associated with the same rock art.

Indigenous built structures and anthropogenic impacts on the stratigraphy of Northern Australian rockshelters: insights from Malarrak 1, north western Arnhem Land

Abstract Malarrak 1 is currently the northernmost excavated rockshelter on the Australian mainland, located in the Wellington Range in north western Arnhem Land. The site contains a rich late Holocene deposit, with extensive contact rock art, stone artefacts, shell, bone, contact materials, ancestral human remains, and other cultural material. Excavation of the Malarrak 1 rockshelter and analysis of its sediments revealed many impacts on site formation processes within the deposit. We attribute the disturbance to possible erosion or sediment deposition during periods of intense rainfall and also to the construction of timber structures within the site. This is supported by modern and historical observations and is the focus of this paper. The extent of the disturbance to Malarrak 1 provides a cautionary tale for other excavations in the region that may be affected by similar Indigenous site occupation, as these anthropogenic activities enhance the risk of further impacts arising from biological and geomorphological processes that can impinge on the stratigraphic integrity of the cultural deposits.

People and fish: Late Holocene rock art at Wulk Lagoon, Arnhem Land

Taçon and Brockwell (1995) made an important contribution to the study of Arnhem Land archaeology by showing that, in combining rock art with environmental change, archaeological sequences and artefact assemblages, a multi-disciplinary synthesis for a regional archaeological narrative could be achieved. A similar approach was taken by David and Lourandos (1998) in an overview of rock art and archaeology in Cape York Peninsula, northern Queensland. This chapter proposes to examine the rock art of the Wulk Lagoon area, northwestern Arnhem Land, by using approaches discussed by Taçon and Brockwell (1995) and David and Lourandos (1998) to analyse rock art, with a methodology that includes reference to environment, ecology and climate change along with local archaeological sequences from excavated rockshelters.