Inés Domingo Sanz

Early Australian Anthropomorphs: Jabiluka's Dynamic Figure Rock Paintings

Early depictions of anthropomorphs in rock art provide unique insights into life during the deep past. This includes human engagements with the environment, socio-cultural practices, gender and uses of material culture. In Australia, the Dynamic Figure rock paintings of Arnhem Land are recognized as the earliest style in the region where humans are explicitly depicted. Important questions, such as the nature and significance of body adornment in rock art and society, can be explored, given the detailed nature of the human figurative art and the sheer number of scenes depicted. In this paper, we make a case for Dynamic Figure rock art having some of the earliest and most extensive depictions of complex anthropomorph scenes found anywhere in the world.

The rock art of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II)

The western Arnhem Land site of Madjedbebe – a site hitherto erroneously named Malakunanja nII in scientific and popular literature but identified as Madjedbebe by senior Mirarr Traditional nOwners – is widely recognised as one of Australia’s oldest dated human occupation sites (Roberts net al. 1990a:153, 1998; Allen and O’Connell 2014; Clarkson et al. 2017). Yet little is known of its nextensive body of rock art. The comparative lack of interest in rock art by many archaeologists in nAustralia during the 1960s into the early 1990s meant that rock art was often overlooked or used nsimply to illustrate the ‘real’ archaeology of, for example, stone artefact studies. As Hays-Gilpen n(2004:1) suggests, rock art was viewed as ‘intractable to scientific research, especially under the nscience-focused “new archaeology” and “processual archaeology” paradigms of the 1960s through nthe early 1980s’. Today, things have changed somewhat, and it is no longer essential to justify nwhy rock art has relevance to wider archaeological studies. nThat said, archaeologists continued to struggle to connect the archaeological record above and nbelow ground at sites such as Madjedbebe. For instance, at this site, Roberts et al. (1990a:153) nrecovered more than 1500 artefacts from the lowest occupation levels, including ‘silcrete flakes, npieces of dolerite and ground haematite, red and yellow ochres, a grindstone and a large number nof amorphous artefacts made of quartzite and white quartz’. The presence of ground haematite nand ochres in the lowest deposits certainly confirms the use of pigment by the early, Pleistocene ninhabitants of this site. However, we know very little about what the materials were used for. nMany of the earliest occupation sites in Australia, including Madjedbebe, have revealed finds of nochre with ground facets, sometimes in considerable quantities (Clarkson et al. 2017; Davidson nand Noble 1992:139), and it would not be too far-fetched to suggest that the haematite and nother ochres were used for cultural ‘business’, such as body art, decoration of objects (spears, dilly nbags, etc.), the production of rock art or other such activities. Whatever the case, here we argue nthat the rock art is an important part of the archaeological story of Madjedbebe, and it deserves nparticular attention. nIn this chapter, we focus on the 1068 paintings, stencils and beeswax figures that exist above ncurrent ground level at Madjedbebe. Our work draws on environmental, archaeological and nethnographic evidence to place the art and the site in their wider regional contexts.

Beswick Creek Cave six decades later: change and continuity in the rock art of Doria Gudaluk

Abstract The rock art of Doria Gudaluk (Beswick Creek Cave) in the Northern Territory of Australia has previously provided a valuable lesson in the difficulties of definitive interpretation without local knowledge. Now, newly recorded motifs at the site—some only visible with digital enhancement—highlight the dangers of relating stylistic changes to the replacement of different cultures. When considered in the context of local history, developments in the rock art of Doria Gudaluk during the second half of the twentieth century can be understood as the result of new cultural collaborations between incoming groups and older, local communities.

Reflections on the Pedagogy of Archaeological Field Schools within Indigenous Community Archaeology Programmes in Australia

In this paper we investigate the pedagogy of archaeological field schools. Specifically, we explore the combination of tertiary level field schools and Indigenous community (or community-based) archaeology. Using a detailed case study of a rock art field school in Arnhem Land, Australia, we explore the processes and outcomes of combining archaeological field training with the ideas and methods of community archaeology. We discuss the relationship and unique challenges faced by such community archaeology field schools, particularly that of balancing the priorities of competing stakeholders. Our discussion illustrates the complexities of training students to work in an environment where cultural belief systems are still strongly linked to sites and landscapes. While the challenges are numerous, the outcomes, particularly for students, provide an unparalleled educational experience, one that cannot be obtained in any other learning format.

The rock art of Ingaanjalwurr, western Arnhem Land, Australia

The painted and beeswax rock art of Ingaanjalwurr rockshelter in western Arnhem Land nis axa0 uniquexa0 assemblage of art within an unassuming rockshelter. By combining a variety nof approaches and methods to the study of Ingaanjalwurr, we were able to draw together an nimportant archaeological context for inferring the antiquity of the painted rock art, as well as ndirect dates for the age of beeswax art. This chapter provides an overview of the rock art at nIngaanjalwurr, ethnographic information regarding the use and production of art at the site, narchaeological information relevant to understanding the antiquity and context of painted rock nart, and the results of direct dating of beeswax art. nIt has been argued that rock art on the northwestern Arnhem Land plateau provides evidence for n‘outbursts of art production’ as opposed to ‘a steady, constant rate over time’ (Tacon 1993:113). nTacon (1993) reached this conclusion by examining the chronology of different styles within his nstudy areas, and counting the number of images representing each style. He suggests that two of nthe most significant such outbursts are represented by Dynamic Figure art and the later Freshwater, nRecent X-ray art (Tacon 1989, 1993), with relatively little rock art production between these two nperiods (Tacon 1993:113). A similar conclusion is reached by Gunn et al. (2012:61) for Nawarla nGabarnmang in Jawoyn Country, western Arnhem Land, arguing that axa0large quantity of rock nart was produced in that site within the past c. 350 years (see also Chapters 11 and 12; David et nal. 2011:76; Gunn et al. 2012:61). The Ingaanjalwurr site provided an opportunity to further nexplore such ‘outbursts of art production’ for western Arnhem Land.