Rock Art Research
DATING OF ROCK IMAGES IN WARDAMAN COUNTRY, NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA
(1)
Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University, Australia
(2)
Centre for Archaeological Research, Australian National University, Australia
(3)
Cambridge University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, United Kingdom
Abstract
The Victoria River District contains many rockshelters with abundant paintings and petroglyphs, most of which are relatively young. The weak nature of the rock and its vulnerability to weathering and erosion have controlled the preservation of the rock art to such an extent that much older images are apparently no longer preserved, if they were present initially. Pigment compositions range from haematite, gypsum, huntite, kaolinite and oxalate salts, and thin films containing oxalate, gypsum, quartz and clay encrust some rock carvings. Radiocarbon age determinations confirm field observations supporting the view that the visible rock art is no older than mid-Holocene.