Burrup Peninsula rock art among world's oldest

Study confirms vast collection of Aboriginal engravings in the Pilbara may be tens of thousands of years old.

This Burrup petroglyph may be one of the oldest carved faces in the world. (Credit: Ken Mulvaney)

RESEARCH INTO THE rate of erosion of Pilbara rocks has put an upper limit on the possible age of up to a million ancient Aboriginal engravings in the Burrup Peninsula of Western Australia.

The peninsula and surrounding Dampier Archipelago have the highest concentration of rock art in the world. The carvings, called petroglyphs, include depictions of human-like figures, human faces and animals that no longer inhabited the region, including the Tasmanian tiger.

Archaeologists haven't been able to date engravings directly, but have previously estimated some of them to be up to 30,000 years old based on the style of the art and weathering patterns. One group of petroglyphs showing land-based animals, are thought to date from a time during the last ice age, when sea levels were higher and the area was far inland.

Low rates of erosion

The new study, led by Professor Brad Pillans, a geologist at the Australian National University, shows that rocks here have some of the lowest recorded rates of erosion in the world.

"The combination of hard rock and low rainfall means low erosion, so we have the potential for preserving rock art for much longer periods of time than in many other places," he told Australian Geographic.

The study published last week in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews shows that the deepest engravings could theoretically survive on these rock surfaces for up to 60,000 years, although the researchers do not claim they are this old. [...] Australian Geographic

Actualización 21-04-13. Los petroglifos de la península de Burrup (Australia) entre los más antiguos del mundo
Una investigación sobre la tasa de erosión de las rocas de Pilbara ha puesto un límite superior a la posible antigüedad de hasta un millón de grabados aborígenes en la península de Burrup, en Australia Occidental...