Robert Gunn

The social construction of caves and rockshelters: Chauvet Cave (France) and Nawarla Gabarnmang (Australia)

Caves and rockshelters are a key component of the archaeological record but are often regarded as natural places conveniently exploited by human communities. Archaeomorphological study shows however that they are not inert spaces but have frequently been modified by human action, sometimes in ways that imply a strong symbolic significance. In this paper the concept of ‘aménagement’, the re-shaping of a material space or of elements within it, is applied to Chauvet Cave in France and Nawarla Gabarnmang rockshelter in Australia. Deep within Chauvet Cave, fallen blocks were moved into position to augment the natural structure known as The Cactus, while at Nawarla Gabarnmang, blocks were removed from the ceiling and supporting pillars removed and discarded down the talus slope. These are hence not ‘natural’ places, but modified and socially constructed.

A Dingo Burial From the Arnhem Land Plateau

Abstract The skeleton of a mature dingo was found wrapped in paperbark and cached on a ledge in a rockshelter on the Arnhem Land plateau. Such burials have not previously been recorded from the region and are considered uncommon by contemporary Jawoyn elders. Radiocarbon dating of a vertebra from the skeleton provided a conventional radiocarbon age of 77±35 BP. This finding is discussed in relation to other recorded aspects of the dingo’s relationship with humans in the ethnography and also its presentation in the rock art of Arnhem Land and elsewhere in Australia.

Archaeology of rock art at Dalakngalarr 1, central-western Arnhem Land

The archaeomorphological study of Nawarla Gabarnmang in Australias Northern Territory challenges us to think in new ways about how Aboriginal people interacted with their surroundings; here a site of everyday engagement was a place of construction that retains material traces of past engagements. At Nawarla Garbarnmang, we show through archaeomorphological research how the changing physical layout of a site can be cross-examined against the impacts of human engagements through time. While the scope and scale of activities involved the anthropogenic removal over tens of thousands of years of rock pillars below the caves roof, other practices came and went over time, the complex sequence of rock art conventions being an apt example. These artistic transformations, much like the era of pillar clearances, are a clear example of changing cultural practices in a part of Australia where some 50,000 years of human occupation can be shown.The Arnhem Land plateau in northern Australia contains a particularly rich rock art assemblage. The area has a small number of large rockshelters with numerous and extensive suites of superimposed motifs (c. 2 per cent of 630 recorded shelters have >200 images). Studies of the rock art of Arnhem Land have primarily been concerned with attempting to understand the age of the art, with particular interest on the Pleistocene to mid-Holocene periods (Chaloupka 1977, 1984, 1985, 1993; Chippindale and Taçon 1993; Haskovec 1992; Lewis 1998; Taçon and Chippindale 1994). Most of these efforts have largely relied on interpretations of styles and their respective patterns of superimposition. Taçon (e.g. 1987, 1989a, 1989b, 1992) has written extensively on X-ray rock art from the northern perimeter of the plateau, and his work on ‘recent’ period art remains the most important study on this subject. The production of X-ray art has also been shown to have been popular during the European-contact period of the past 200 years or so (Chaloupka 1993; May et al. 2010; Wesley 2013). The most detailed study of rock art in the late Holocene period is the extensive radiocarbon dating of beeswax figures by Nelson et al. (2000), most of which fall within the past 500 years (but see Bednarik 2001).This chapter explores [the] incongruity in the distribution of Western-contact motifs contrasting northwestern and southwestern Arnhem Land in relation to the rich corpus of other kinds of rock art on the plateau. We stress from the onset that while images of ‘Western-contact art’ derive from a wide variety of responses to outsider influences, and include imagery that employs conventions akin and often indistinguishable to those of the pre–Western contact period, in this chapter we restrict our discussion to images of introduced objects and demonstrably foreign peoples.

A second recent canine burial from the Arnhem Land Plateau

Abstract A canine burial was recently located on the Arnhem Land Plateau. This is the second such feature recorded for the region. Radiocarbon dating of a vertebrae from the canine provided an age of 88±25 BP (Wk–31813). Both canine burials known from the area occur in similar archaeological contexts and are of similar age, suggesting there may be a cultural link between them.

Archaeological research in Wardaman country, Northern Territory: The Lightning Brothers Project 1990-91 field seasons

The Lightning Brothers Project began in 1988 as a long-term investigation into the archaeology of Wardaman country, near the Victoria River (Northern Territory). This paper reports briefly on research undertaken during the 1990 and 1991 field seasons. Results obtained during the previous two field seasons have been reported elsewhere and will not be repeated here (cf. David et al. 1990a, 1990b, 1990c, 1991, 1992, 1994; David and Hood 1991; Flood et al. 1992; Frost et al. 1992; McNiven et al. 1992).

Engineers of the Arnhem Land plateau : Evidence for the origins and transformation of sheltered spaces at Nawarla Gabarnmang

The archaeomorphological study of Nawarla Gabarnmang in Australias Northern Territory challenges us to think in new ways about how Aboriginal people interacted with their surroundings; here a site of everyday engagement was a place of construction that retains material traces of past engagements. At Nawarla Garbarnmang, we show through archaeomorphological research how the changing physical layout of a site can be cross-examined against the impacts of human engagements through time. While the scope and scale of activities involved the anthropogenic removal over tens of thousands of years of rock pillars below the caves roof, other practices came and went over time, the complex sequence of rock art conventions being an apt example. These artistic transformations, much like the era of pillar clearances, are a clear example of changing cultural practices in a part of Australia where some 50,000 years of human occupation can be shown.The Arnhem Land plateau in northern Australia contains a particularly rich rock art assemblage. The area has a small number of large rockshelters with numerous and extensive suites of superimposed motifs (c. 2 per cent of 630 recorded shelters have >200 images). Studies of the rock art of Arnhem Land have primarily been concerned with attempting to understand the age of the art, with particular interest on the Pleistocene to mid-Holocene periods (Chaloupka 1977, 1984, 1985, 1993; Chippindale and Taçon 1993; Haskovec 1992; Lewis 1998; Taçon and Chippindale 1994). Most of these efforts have largely relied on interpretations of styles and their respective patterns of superimposition. Taçon (e.g. 1987, 1989a, 1989b, 1992) has written extensively on X-ray rock art from the northern perimeter of the plateau, and his work on ‘recent’ period art remains the most important study on this subject. The production of X-ray art has also been shown to have been popular during the European-contact period of the past 200 years or so (Chaloupka 1993; May et al. 2010; Wesley 2013). The most detailed study of rock art in the late Holocene period is the extensive radiocarbon dating of beeswax figures by Nelson et al. (2000), most of which fall within the past 500 years (but see Bednarik 2001).This chapter explores [the] incongruity in the distribution of Western-contact motifs contrasting northwestern and southwestern Arnhem Land in relation to the rich corpus of other kinds of rock art on the plateau. We stress from the onset that while images of ‘Western-contact art’ derive from a wide variety of responses to outsider influences, and include imagery that employs conventions akin and often indistinguishable to those of the pre–Western contact period, in this chapter we restrict our discussion to images of introduced objects and demonstrably foreign peoples.

Standing stones: An unrecorded form of stone arrangement from the Jawoyn lands of the Arnhem Land Plateau

Abstract Undertaken as part of the Jawoyn Rock Art and Heritage Project, a form of stone arrangement not previously documented in Arnhem Land was found to occur at many recorded site complexes. These ‘standing stones’, or plaques, are flat slabs of unmodified sandstone, typically measuring ca 60 x 40 cm, that have been deliberately erected in a nearvertical position. While most are visually prominent, others are in very inconspicuous locations. The function of these stones is unknown, but it seems likely that they acted as a form of marker. This paper provides a preliminary analysis of the size, placement and context of a sample of this particular type of stone arrangement.

Dating The Present At Nawarla Gabarnmang: Time and function in the art of a major Jawoyn rock art and occupation site in western Arnhem Land

Abstract Nawarla Gabarnmang is a major rock art and occupation rockshelter in the Jawoyn lands of western Arnhem Land. On the basis of (1) dating of beeswax underlying pigment art, (2) the presence of a probable contact motif, and (3) traditional owner comments, it appears that the most clearly visible art in the rockshelter was produced within an archaeologically narrow window of time in the past 600 years, with the most recent art production occurring between AD 1845 and 1940. Studies of motif superimpositioning also suggest that at least three functionally distinct phases have occurred in the recent period rock art. Spatial mapping of the major art styles also indicates that the latest styles are restricted to the central and largest panels, affording them visual prominence with the highest dramatic impact.

Postcards from the outside: European-contact rock art imagery and occupation on the southern Arnhem Land plateau, Jawoyn lands

The archaeomorphological study of Nawarla Gabarnmang in Australias Northern Territory challenges us to think in new ways about how Aboriginal people interacted with their surroundings; here a site of everyday engagement was a place of construction that retains material traces of past engagements. At Nawarla Garbarnmang, we show through archaeomorphological research how the changing physical layout of a site can be cross-examined against the impacts of human engagements through time. While the scope and scale of activities involved the anthropogenic removal over tens of thousands of years of rock pillars below the caves roof, other practices came and went over time, the complex sequence of rock art conventions being an apt example. These artistic transformations, much like the era of pillar clearances, are a clear example of changing cultural practices in a part of Australia where some 50,000 years of human occupation can be shown.The Arnhem Land plateau in northern Australia contains a particularly rich rock art assemblage. The area has a small number of large rockshelters with numerous and extensive suites of superimposed motifs (c. 2 per cent of 630 recorded shelters have >200 images). Studies of the rock art of Arnhem Land have primarily been concerned with attempting to understand the age of the art, with particular interest on the Pleistocene to mid-Holocene periods (Chaloupka 1977, 1984, 1985, 1993; Chippindale and Taçon 1993; Haskovec 1992; Lewis 1998; Taçon and Chippindale 1994). Most of these efforts have largely relied on interpretations of styles and their respective patterns of superimposition. Taçon (e.g. 1987, 1989a, 1989b, 1992) has written extensively on X-ray rock art from the northern perimeter of the plateau, and his work on ‘recent’ period art remains the most important study on this subject. The production of X-ray art has also been shown to have been popular during the European-contact period of the past 200 years or so (Chaloupka 1993; May et al. 2010; Wesley 2013). The most detailed study of rock art in the late Holocene period is the extensive radiocarbon dating of beeswax figures by Nelson et al. (2000), most of which fall within the past 500 years (but see Bednarik 2001).This chapter explores [the] incongruity in the distribution of Western-contact motifs contrasting northwestern and southwestern Arnhem Land in relation to the rich corpus of other kinds of rock art on the plateau. We stress from the onset that while images of ‘Western-contact art’ derive from a wide variety of responses to outsider influences, and include imagery that employs conventions akin and often indistinguishable to those of the pre–Western contact period, in this chapter we restrict our discussion to images of introduced objects and demonstrably foreign peoples.

Art islands on the plateau: rock art site complexes in the Jawoyn Lands of the Arnhem Land Plateau

Abstract The surface of the Arnhem Land Plateau, northern Australia, contains numerous rock outcrops of varying size and geomorphic complexity. Erosion of these isolated outcrops has led to the development of discrete clusters of rockshelters that have become foci for Aboriginal use (site complexes). The clusters stand as islands within an archaeologically sparse sand plain. Here we investigate the distribution and patterns of use of rockshelters within 36 site clusters on the plateau. We established that their pattern of use is similar to that found in many other areas of Australia: a major site within a suite of smaller satellite sites. We also found that the quantity of rock art varies greatly between complexes, generally in proportion to the number of shelters present, and that local concentrations tend to occur where surface erosion is greatest. It is argued that, over the past 14,000 years at least, the larger rockshelters with high-motif numbers were the most frequently used and also that they lay along well-travelled pathways across the plateau. The role and uses of the smaller shelters, while clearly different from the main art shelters, remains unclear.