Rock Art Research

The identification of patterns and trends in rock art can offer substance to the interpretation of inter-group relationships beyond that provided by other areas of archaeology and anthropology. The rock art within the lands of the Arrernte and Luritja people of central Australia has been subject to intensive study over the past twenty years and a broad framework is now available. Studies of recent Eastern Arrernte art have seen a number of smaller scale patterns identified that form sub-divisions within the Eastern Arrernte language area. The patterns are based on the occurrence of two distinctive motif types within the recent pigment art, whose distributions overlap a number of different clan estates, but do not extend throughout the language area. As these clearly do not reflect either linguistic or estate boundaries, they are not seen as ‘markers’ of clan identity. It is suggested that these patterns reflect the existence of an informal alliance between adjoining clans, based on both ritual and social allegiances, and probably reflecting the movements or influences of a single artist or small group of artists.