Pigment geochemistry as chronological marker: The case of lead pigment in rock art in the Urrmarning 'Red Lily Lagoon' rock art precinct, western Arnhem Land

This paper presents selected results of an experimental study using portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) for the non-destructive analysis of rock art pigments in northern Australia. During two weeks of fieldwork in the dry season of 2011 at the Red Lily Lagoon area in western Arnhem Land, 32 rock art motifs in four rockshelter sites were analysed. A total of 640 analyses were undertaken, including of white, red, black, yellow and blue pigments from both early and contact art motifs. This paper discusses the geochemical analysis of one particular motif painted with black pigment. It was determined that processed metal lead was the most likely pigment base. Contrary to previous stylistic analysis that suggested the motif had an old age, our analysis suggests that the motif was painted within the last 200-300 years

Characterization of mineral coatings associated with a Pleistocene-Holocene rock art style: The Northern Running Figures of the East Alligator River region, western Arnhem Land, Australia

This data article contains mineralogic and chemical data from mineral coatings associated with rock art from the East Alligator River region. The coatings were collected adjacent to a rock art style known as the “Northern Running Figures” for the purposes of radiocarbon dating (doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.11.016; (T. Jones, V. Levchenko, P.L. King, U. Troitzsch, D. Wesley, 2017) [1]). This contribution includes raw and processed powder X-ray Diffraction data, Scanning Electron Microscopy energy dispersive spectroscopy data, and Fourier Transform infrared spectral data.This research was supported by Australian Research Council grants to King (FT130101524 and DP150104604). The Centre for Advanced Microscopy is supported by the Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF)

Disentangling the styles, sequences and antiquity of the early rock art of western Arnhem Land

The rock art of western Arnhem Land represents one of the largest corpuses and most complex ancient cultural records in ancient Australia, with both the rock art and the broader archaeological landscape amongst the oldest Indigenous occupied landscapes in the country (David et al. 2013; Clarkson et al. 2015; Roberts et al. 1990, 1993, 1994). While both the archaeology and aspects of the rock art have been rigorously studied, the early rock art of Arnhem Land rock art largely remains disarticulated from the archaeological record owing to its unknown antiquity (Langley and Taçon 2010). The inability to temporally link rock art sequences to the archaeological record has thus limited the capacity of rock art researchers to inform and engage in disciplinary debates regarding the social nature and the cultural complexity of Indigenous societies in the deep past. This issue remains the greatest limitation of rock art research (Ross et al. 2016). This thesis aims to revaluate and test the validity of the previously proposed stylistic sequences and their assumed antiquity (Brandl 1973; Chaloupka 1993; Chippindale and Taçon 1998; Lewis 1988) with particular reference to the early to middle periods of western Arnhem Land rock art (Chippindale and Taçon 1998; Wesley et al. in press). It aims to anchor the stylistic chronology and our current understanding of western Arnhem Land rock art to the broader regional archaeological record through the production of absolute chronometric age constraints for selected rock art styles. The rock art styles subject to stylistic analysis and radiocarbon dating include; the Northern Running Figure style, the Large Naturalistic style, and the early X-ray style. By producing chronometric information regarding the timings of the emergence and disappearance of key rock art styles, a revised chronology for the early to middle periods can be proposed. This revised stylistic chronology for early to middle period rock art enables a combined re-evaluation of both the archaeology and the rock art in the region, thus consolidating our understanding of the social nature, function and cultural context of rock art production in western Arnhem Land throughout the Pleistocene – Holocene transition

Towards multiple ontologies - Creating rock art narratives in Arnhem Land

A rock art and museum collection project undertaken in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia found that there were significant collection legacy issues surrounding different archaeological documentation of rock art sites. This prompted an examination of current rock art recording practice using a Western Arnhem Land case study. This required an examination of the theoretical development and methodological practice of rock art research. Surveying of current museum theory uncovered the theoretical concept of multiple ontologies which may have specific applications for rock art studies in northern Australia

Rock art and ritual function: The northern running figures of Western Arnhem land

This paper explores the distribution, abundance and diversity of Northern Running Figure (NRF) rock art motifs and their archaeological contexts from two study areas in western Arnhem Land, Jabiluka and Red Lily. Motif design elements in the NRF style such as the inclusion of sex and material culture are indices used to explore social function in NRF art. The relationship between NRF archaeological contexts (i.e., distribution, abundance, diversity and overall rock art site contexts) and the variables of sex and material culture are explored via statistical analysis and suggest that NRF art performed a ritual function in the culture(s) of ancient Arnhem Land peoples

Current themes in the study of material culture in the rock art of northern Australia

This paper introduces this special volume of The Artefact journal focusing on material culture and rock art. We introduce the key themes of the volume beginning with the re-evaluation of existing rock art chronologies using depictions of material culture as a central interpretative element. Likewise, we investigate the ways in which papers in this volume examine the concept of ritual behaviours in rock art and how depictions of material culture can play a pivotal role in identifying such complex activities

Pigment geochemistry as chronological marker: the case of lead pigment in rock art in the Urrmarning 'Red Lily Lagoon' rock art precinct, western Arnhem Land

This paper presents selected results of an experimental study using portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF) for the non-destructive analysis of rock art pigments in northern Australia. During two weeks of fieldwork in the dry season of 2011 at the Red Lily Lagoon area in western Arnhem Land, 32 rock art motifs in four rockshelter sites were analysed. A total of 640 analyses were undertaken, including of white, red, black, yellow and blue pigments from both early and contact art motifs. This paper discusses the geochemical analysis of one particular motif painted with black pigment. It was determined that processed metal lead was the most likely pigment base. Contrary to previous stylistic analysis that suggested the motif had an old age, our analysis suggests that the motif was painted within the last 200–300 years