Pileta de Prehistoria: Aboriginal rock art mapped in Kimberley as surveys build database

A range of rock art at Camera Pool north of Wyndham has already been recorded. (Credit: ABC)

Months of gruelling outback survey work involving helicopters, boats and long treks on foot is helping to piece together the history of Indigenous rock art scattered across thousands of caves and cliffs in northern Western Australia.

It is the start of a five-year project bringing together international experts to build up a database of rock art styles in the northern Kimberley — home to one of the world's biggest and most varied ancient collections.

"We're at the end of three months of fieldwork, and it's been hard work ... but we're happy, we're tired, and the feeling's good," project leader and University of Western Australia archaeology Professor Peter Veth said.

"It's like there's a whole new insight, a whole new window into this whole graphic, deep-time history of the Kimberley."

Kimberley's rock art is poorly understood, with archaeologists estimating only 1 or 2 per cent has been recorded.

It is hoped the Kimberley Visions project will help track the development of the region's distinctive art styles, which include the elongated Gwion figures and the distinctive Wandjina spirit figures. [... ] ABC Radio Australia

Actualización: Kimberley's hidden world of Indigenous rock art revealed by researchers | Australia news | The Guardian
A world-first survey of more than 250 rock art sites in Western Australia’s Kimberley region has documented more than 30,000 images and will help researchers answer some of the biggest questions about human migration.

The survey began in July and is being run by the University of Western Australia archeology professor Peter Veth, in conjunction with traditional owners the Balanggarra people and the Balanggarra Indigenous rangers.
Over a three-month period the research team recorded the sites in the remote east Kimberley, between the town of Wyndham, more than 1,000km east of Broome and 3,400km north of Perth, and the Northern Territory border....