Rock art dating in the Kimberley

'A review of rock art dating in the Kimberley, Western Australia' Dr Maxime Aubert.
Extract: Journal of Archaeological Science 39 [2012] 573-577.

As Dr Maxime Aubert states, 'The major problem with use of the Kimberley rock art as a source of scientific information about the past is the lack of a robust chronology. At present, there are very few numerical dates available to anchor the rock art sequence'.This paper critically reviews the various approaches used to estimate the age of the rock art in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. They include: (i) the relative superimposition of styles; (ii) the use of diagnostic subject matter (depictions of extinct animals, stone tool technology, introduced European and Asian objects and animals); (iii) the recovery of a 'painted' slab from a dated archaeological unit; (iv) radiocarbon dating of beeswax figures, charcoal pigments, organic matter in overlying mineral deposits and 'accreted paint layers' (oxalate rich crusts and amorphous silica skin)...

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