New and Emerging Challenges to Heritage and Well-Being: A Critical Review

In the past decade, scholarship has documented the ways in which interacting with different forms of heritage impact individual and/or community well-being, as well as the harm to human well-being that occurs when heritage is damaged or destroyed. We bring the results of a review of this literature together, defining both heritage and well-being in relation to each other and exploring the relationship between heritage and well-being. New and emerging threats to heritage and, in turn, well-being are outlined, as well as new ways of preserving heritage for future generations. The future of heritage is discussed along with the importance of the concept of “living heritage”. We conclude that heritage is essential for contemporary and future well-being, and that if we do not better care for heritage then human health will be negatively impacted

Maliwawa figures—a previously undescribed Arnhem Land rock art style

In this paper, a previously undescribed rock art style consisting of large human figures and animals with stroke-line infill is introduced. These depictions have been named Maliwawa Figures. They are primarily found in northwest Arnhem Land and to date have been recorded at 87 sites from Awunbarna (Mount Borradaile area) to the Namunidjbuk clan state of the Wellington Range. There are solitary figures and others arranged in compositions or scenes. We describe the features of this style, its distribution, subject matter and probable age. The results of a detailed analysis of all sites are discussed and a new, refined Arnhem Land rock art chronology is presented. It is concluded that Maliwawa Figures are most likely to date between 6,000 to 9,400 years of age and to be contemporaneous with Northern Running Figures and Yam Figures found at sites to the south

The contemporary importance and future of Sulawesi’s ancient rock art

In October 2014, the world learned that the oldest surviving hand stencils and rock paintings of animals were located in southern Sulawesi rather than in Europe. These results, produced using uranium-series dating methods, were the first reported Pleistocene ages for figurative rock art imagery in Island Southeast Asia. We summarise this discovery and its significance in relation to associated research on the oldest rock art of Europe before discussing future research priorities including contemporary concerns about the rock art’s conservation that resulted from discussions between the authors and others in 2015. This review is relevant for rock art research not only for the greater Sulawesi region but also many other parts of the world

Introduction to:Histories of Australian Rock Art Research

Paul S.C. Taçon, Sally K. May, Ursula K. Frederick, Jo McDonald and Mary Blyt