histories of old ages

HISTORIES OF OLD AGES Essays in honour of Rhys Jones

Edited by Atholl Anderson, Ian Lilley and Sue O'Connor

PANDANUS BOOKS Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Cover picture: Rhys Jones exploring the Walls of China at Lake Mungo in 1974. First published in: Brandsen, Terry 1974 Mungo's modern man. Australia 2(4): 2-7. This is an Australian Information Service Publication, Department of the Media. Published for the A!S by the Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra, 1974.

© Pandanus Books 2001

This book is copyright in all countries subscribing to the Berne convention. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher. National Library in Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Histories of old ages: essays in honour of Rhys Jones.

ISBN 1 74076 002 6.

1. Jones, Rhys, 1941-. 2. Archaeologists- Australia. 3- Aborigines, Australian. 4. Prehistoric peoples- Australia.

s. Anthropology- Australia.

6. Australia- Antiquities.

I. Anderson, Athol I. 11. Jones, Rhys, 1941-. Ill. Lilley, Jan. IV. O'Connor, Sue. V. Australian National University. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.

Published for the Centre for Archaeological Research by Pandanus Books, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200 Australia Production: Ian Templeman, Duncan Beard and Emily Brissenden

Art at 40,000 BP? One Step Closer: An Ochre Covered Rock from Carpenter's Gap Shelter 1, Kimberley Region, Western Australia Sue O'Connor Department of Archaeology and Natural History The Australian National University

Barry Fankhauser Department of Archaeology and Natural History The Australian Nationa 1University

A SMALL slab of painted rock from Carpenter's Gap Shelter 1 in the Napier Ranges, Central Kimberley, has been dared to ca. 40,000 BP. This find adds to a growing body of data that indicates the widespread use of ochre - and by implication, art - as an aspect of the earliest human occupation of widely separated and environmentally diverse regions in Australia (Jones and Johnson 1985:219; Smith and Fankhauser 1996; Smith et al. 1998). The rock slab is limestone which is the parent material of the shelter, and is covered in a deep red pigment. This is on two sides and one edge, suggesting that it was painted while attached to the parent rock as a ledge, joined at the remaining unpainted edge. If this interpretation is correct, the act of painting must be as old and probably older than the excavation level from which it was recovered. The slab and a piece of red ochre from the same excavation unit were subjected to elemental analysis to determine if the red coating resembled ochre and whether it had the same composition and likely source as the piece of ochre found alongside it. A description of the slab and the results of the elemental analysis are presented. The significance of the find is discussed within the context of other Pleistocene evidence for art in Australia and ethnographic symbolic expression in the Kimberley region.

CARPENTER'S GAP 1 ROCKSHELTER Like many of the rockshelters in the Napier Range area, Carpenter's Gap 1 (Figures 1 and 2) contains spectacular painted and engraved art panels on irs roof and walls. In the upper section of the shelter the low overhanging roof is covered with red, yellow, brmvn and white ochre paintings and charcoal drawings in the most recent Kimberley art style which is associated with the ancestral creative beings, known as Wandjina (Crawford 1968, 1977; Walsh in press). The shelter is in Bunuba country and the Bunuba and other Kimberley people who share this ideology believe that the Wandjina experienced 'creative journeys \Vhich left the land and all living matter in its present form' (Vinnicombe 1992:10). Following the creation of the clan estates they put themselves in a shelter within each clan estate. 'Each Wandjina has a name, a moiety and a set of totemic symbols from which each clan is directly descended' (Vinnicombe 1992:10) and for which the members of that clan are responsible. Carpenter's Gap 1 contains a large Wandjina, indicating that this shelter is prominent in the ideology of the Bunuba, as attested to by the traditional owners of the site who continue to visit it. The painted art in this site is not 'open', hence no

O'Connor and Emkhauscr

287

126"

INDIAN

OCEAN

~

q'da- Lel!li(Ud

Derby

l?il'e/' \fl'...qi'VG

'''"''• •• 0

---- ... '

\ \ \ \

\,\'-------~ 0

5 metres

Figure 2. Plan of Carpenter's Gap 1 Shelter.

288

HISTORIES OF OLD AGES

D CBJ D

rockledge

B

engravings

D EJ

rock/rockwall

pecked hollows

EJ

blade scralchings and grooves

deposit

1,..,•• I

pecked animal tracks in rock covered with mineral skins

drip line

0

eslimation of far wall under roof

Regression Analysis A multiple regression algorithm (Minicab 1989:Ch. 7) was used to determine the best estimate (in a least squares sense) of the percentage of ochre on limesrone. A stepwise regression algorithm was used to choose the ochre closest in composition to the rock slab ochre sample. Stepwise regression uses the maximum F-staristic to identify a useful subset of the predictors (Minicab 1989:Ch. 7). This is equivalent to minimising a goodness of fit statistic of an ochre with the estimated ochre given a least squares estimate of the proportion. The constant (intercept) term was omitted from equations. A database of EDXA results for 43 ochres was used for stepwise regression.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The results for the analysis of the slab blanks and pigment layers on limestone are presented in Table 1. They are presented as element percentage as determined by EDXA. The analyses do nor total to 100% because two important elements, oxygen and carbon, could not be analysed accurately and therefore are not included. In addition, sample porosity lowers the total percentage analysis (Goodhew and Humphreys 1988). Often analyses of this nature are presented as oxides and totalled to 100%, but to do so here would introduce errors in the actual compositions because calcium, especially in the limestone, is a carbonate rather than an oxide. Calcium of course could be mathematically convened to a carbonate (Ca and Care in a ratio of 1), bur ochres, though often having calcium in the form of carbonate, have calcium in a variety of minerals. For example, Bookartoo ochre has calcium in the form of calcite, CaC0 3, dolomite, CaMg(C0 3) 2, and ankerite, Ca(Mg0.67Feo.33)(C03)z (Jerchcr eta!. 1998). Also, note that Mg and Fe are not only oxides but carbonates as well. The rock slab (Saw Blank) is a limestone given irs high calcium and low silica content. The original surfaces of the limestone slab (Top and Bottom Blanks) are similar to the cleanly sawn surface (Saw Blank) although the Top and Bottom Blanks have higher concentrations of some elements which may be from residual pigment and a mineral skin which forms on rock surfaces (V/archman 1990). An in situ analysis requires the analysis of the rock surface with pigment removed because of the possibility of differences between a fresh surface and the surface with a pigment layer. The red pigment on the rock slab is thin, resulting in a proportionally greater importance for the elemental concentration of the background. The limestone background cannot simply be subtracted from the in situ Table 1. EDXA elemental analysis(%) for limestone blanks and in situ pigment layers. The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of analyses making up the mean. 5 is the sample standard deviation. Element

limestone Saw Blank

Mean (9) Na Mg AI Si p 5 Cl K

Ca Ti Mn Fe

s

limestone

limestone

Top Blank

Bot. Blank

Mean (4)

s

Mean (4)

s

Limestone +Top Layer

Mean (2)

s

Limestone +Bot. Layer

Mean (2)

s

0.10

0.03

0.07

0.01

0.05

0.03

0.12

0.02

0.03

0.14

0.03

0.25

0.03

o.og

0.01

279

0.05

2.09

0.02

0.02

0.01

0.03

0.21

0.15

3-21

0.01

0.27

0.02

3-17 8.14 0.55

0-40 0.01

0.02

0.11

0.05

0.17 0.53

8.92

0.03

0.02

0.15

0.01

0.33 0.07

0.25

0.03 o.og

0.02

0.71

0.04

0.02

0.05

0.01

0.02

0.02

0.24

0.01

0.12

0.02

0.11

0.03

0.05

0.01

0.02

0.07

0.03

0.14

0.03

0.11

0.02

0.03 0.08

0.03

1.11

0.01

o.og 0.83

0.06

34-97

0.21

31-33

1-41

35-55

0.14

15.06

0.04

15-71

0.01

0.01

0.01

0.01

0.02

0.02

0.15

0.13

0.17 0.01

0.05

0.03

0.06

0.01

0.06

0.05

0.05

0.03 0.01

0.06

0.01

0.04

0.05

0.32

0.06

0.08

0.05

10.64

0.00

8.60

1-44

0.01

O'Connor and Fankhauser

291

analysis of the red coating plus background because the relative contributions of each arc unknown and ochres often contain significant amounts of calcium as indicated by ochres CGl-A-47 and Bookarroo (Table 2). However, the limestone has only minor concenuations of elements other than calcium and some genera[ conclusions can be made from the elemental analysis of the lOp and Bottom Layers compared with the Limestone Blanks. The clements lvig, AI, Si, P, K, and Fe arc in relatively high concentrations in the red layer. Other than P these clements arc often found in high concemrations in ochres, for example sec CGlA-47, Bookartoo, and Karrku (Table 2). Visually, at both macro and micro levels, the red substance resembles an applied ochre. The elemental analysis results do not conflict with these observations. 'The most desirable red ochres have the highest Fe content from the mineral hacmatitc, Fe 20 3. Both Bookartoo and Karrku ochres are examples of this. The 'dilution effect' of the limestone for elemental analysis of ill situ layers of ochre can be seen by comparing the analytical results for CGl-A-47, Bookartoo and Karrku ochres with their coated analyses (Table 2). (Note that the sample Blank + Bookarroo was thickly coated so the background contributed only 1.7% to the analysis.) Multiple regression of the Blank+ Karrku on two predictors, Karrku ochre and Saw Blank, resulted in the equarion, Blank+ Karrku = (0.393)(Saw Blank)+ (0.672)(Karrku), for which the ochre contributed 63.1% [(0.672 x 100)/(0.393 + 0.672)] and the limestone contributed 36.9% to the elemental analysis (Table 3). \\~th a thinner coating these figures were 26.0% and 74.0% for ochre CGl-A-47. From the results in Thble 2 it can be seen that the major clement concentrations (J\~Ig,AI, Si, Fe for CGI-A-47 and AI, Si, K, Fe for Karrku) are diluted to quite an extent by the limestone. This dilution would be more pronounced for the red pigment on the rock slab as it is visually thinner than those coatings applied onto limcswne in the laboratory. This indicates the red pigment has relatively high concentrations of Mg, AI, Si, and Fe and again is consistent with an ochre. The elemental analysis of an archaeological ochre sample from Kutikina is given in 'Thble 2. Stepwise regression of the EDXA results for the Top Layer on the Top Blank and 43 ochres picked sample A3 S\\r from Kurikina (Kiernan ct al. 1983) as the best match with close agreement for most of the major clements. Note that clements in higher concentration have a large influence on the calculated regression equations used to give the predicted values in Tl1ble 3. Comparison of predicted compositions for Kutikina Top and Bottom Layers in Table 3 with the Limestone + Top and Bottom Layers in T.1ble 1 shows large disagreement for J\.'fg, P and S. \Vhile it is extremely unlikely that Carpenter's Gap and Kutikina ochres are identical given that the Kurikina site is in 'Tasmania, the composition of the ochre on the rock slab may be similar to Kurikina despite the Mg, P and S concentrations of the ochre on the rock slab being larger. To give Table 2. EDXA elemental analyses{%) for ochres and ochre coatings on limestone. The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of analyses making up the mean. 5 is the sample standard deviation. Element

Ochre

Limestone + CG1-A-47

CG1-A-47

Mean

s

Mean

(13)

Mean

s

(13)

(3)

Limestone + Karrku Mean

s

Ochre Bookartoo Mean

s

(g)

(3)

limestone

+ Bookartoo Mean

s

Ochre Kutikina Mean 5 (2)

(2)

Na Mg AI Si p

0.17

0.05

o.o8

0.02

0.18

0.04

0.27

0.01

0.14

o.o6

0.20

0.04

0.07

0.54 1-44 2-49

0.06

0.19

0.03

0.28

0.03

0.28

0.01

2.50 0.07

0.06

0.17

0.18

0.02

1.66 o.56

0.29

0.38

0.05

0.87 0.06 3-30 0.13 g.g6 0.27

0.07

0.03

o.os

0.01

0.25

s

0.13

0.03

0.11

0.02

Cl

0.13

0.06

0.13

[(

0.67 19·37

0.15

Ca Ti Mn

Fe

292

s

Ochre Karrku

6.]2 0.20 14.66 0.28

3-40 0.06 g.16 0.21

0.91

3-52 0.14

2.15

0.04

o.os

0.12

0.02

0.09 o.os

0.04

0.01

0.23

0.00

0.10

0.03

0.22

0.03

0.05

0.07

0.01

0.03

0.01

0.01

0.10

0.03

0.22

0.01

0.04 0.03

0.11

0.04

0.02

0.03

0.24

0.02

2.61

0.08

0.18

0.02

0.18

0.03

1.18

0.01

1.23

31.01

o.35

0.19

0.15

1.66 0.03 13.89 0.02

].29 0.36

6.12

0.08

9-27

0.20

0.07

0.04

0.03

0.02

0.17

0.03

0.10

0.02

0.01

0.23

0.01

0.02

0.04

0.04

0.03 0.03

0.01

0.02

0.02 0.03 0.18 0.06

0.03

0.02

0.16

0.01

0.06

0.04

22.91

1.84

6.o5

0.66

30.19 0.74

30-46

0.01

15.16

0-40


20.84 0.06

39.19

0.05

0.03

0.55

0.00

0.01

EMERGING EVIDENCE FOR PLEISTOCENE 'ART' IN AUSTRALIA To quare Beaton (1994:160) 'no rock art seems to be speaking more loudly these days than the rock arr of Australia' and its message has far-reaching implications for modern human origins and beha,·iour. Unforrunarcly, several recent claims have been contentious and subsequently disproved. These instance') threaten the credibility of those rock art daring endeavours which have a sound basis in archaeological science. By far the oldest and most controversial of the claims for arr were those made by Fullagar er al. (1996:771) for the jinmium rock shelter in rhc Keep River area of the Northern Territory. Here pecked cupules were claimed to be> 50,000 BP on the basis ofTL ages of the sediments overlying a slab of rock containing pecked cupu!cs found in the deposit. Redating of the samples by OSL suggested that they were contaminated with older saprolite, thus producing dates significantly older than the true age of the sediments (Hoberts et a!. 1998). Independent Al\,IS dating of comminuted charcoal from the sediments covering the slab supports rhis imerpretation, producing dates in the order of 3,000 BP and suggesting that the entire deposit is of 1-:l.oloccm~ age (Roberts eta!. 1998). The oxalate crusts overlying three pecked cupulcs on the shelter walls have recent!~· been dated and have produced dates ranging between 1430 BP and 11,000 BI{ with most of the 16 date~ obtained being in the order of 2000 to 6000 BP. A mid-Holocene age is favoured for the beginning of crust formation over most of the cupules. As these dares provide only a minimum age for the cupules, they may be much older; but how much older is unknown (\Vatchman et al. 2000:7).

Petroglyphs located in the arid Olary region of central Australia were dated to 30,000 BP by measuring the cation-ratios in desert varnish formed over the surface of the motifs (Darner al. 1988). The methodolob~· of this technique has been extensively criticised (Bednarik 1988; Harry 1995; sec also \Varchman, this volume). Darn and Nobbs' (1992) replication of the cation-ratio results withAMS dates on organic matter trapped in the skins covering the petroglyphs was found during independent testing made on the crust samples submitted for daring, to contain contaminants of coal and wood fractions of greatly disparate age~ (Becket al. 1998:2135). Darn (1997) has withdrawn the AlviS C14 dates associated with the pctroglyphs. Several excellent reviews of direct daring of rock art in Australia have been published over the past 10 years (e.g. Rosenfeld 1993; Rosenfeld and Smith 1997) and \Varchman (this volume) provides a regional oven·ic" of the background and results of rock art dating in Australia. The following discussion serves only to place rhe Carpenter's Gap 1 ochre-covered slab into a pan-Australian perspective. One of the main criticisms directed at recent attempts to dace rock art concerns the amhropogenic derivation of materials dated and the validity of the results as a record of the time of the painting or engraving evem (Flood 1997; Rosenfeld 1993; Rosenfeld and Smith 1997). For example, carbon-containing componems of the pigments used in rock art, and protein in the pigments have been dated usingAl\,IS (Loy 1994; Loy et al. 1990) but serious doubts have been raised as to the anthropogenic origin of the substances dared. Other scientists have been unable to replicate Loy's results on Laurie Creek or judds Cavern (Nelson 1993; Gillespie 1997). This problem has been discussed by lvlcDonald er al. (1990) who demonstrated that vastly disparate dates could be achieved from paired Al\,IS samples from a single painted motif in the Sydney Basin region. The most likely cause of this inconsistency is 'comamination by organic carbon from sources other than that associated wi ch the painting event ... potential sources of contamination include naturally occurring organisms on the rock face, such as algae, lichen, fungi, bacteria', as well as charcoal bearing dusts and sources or inorganic carbons (Rosenfeld and Smith 1997:406) which can be incorporated in the paint surface and can potentially pre-dace or post-date the painting event (Gillespie 1997:436; Rosenfeld and Smith 1997). \Vatchman and Campbell (1996:418) have recently produced a series of AMS dates from a stratigraphic sequence of oxalate-rich crusts encasing pigments at \Valkunder Arch Cave in North Queensland. This sequence spans ca. 28,000 years with no indications of chronological inversions. However, the fact that the

294


dated pigments arc rendered 'invisible' by a pentimento of later an and natural skins, leaves some room for doubt about the origin of the pigment and, if anthropogenic in origin, whether it is art. Lewis-V\~Iliams, leading rock art researcher from the University of\\~twatcrsrand, was quoted in Srimre as saying 'It may only mean that someone wiped his or her hand on a wall after rubbing their body with ocher' and 'there's a great difference between that and making a symbol' (Morrel1995:1909). The weakness in all of the ANIS dates on rock art lies in linking the carbon trapped in the pigments or mineral accretions with the human action being investigated. Dating organic materials in oxalate skins overlying engravings docs not have the problems of image 'concealment' associated with pigment, but still relies on the assumption that the combined carbon will reliably date the time of the skins' formations. This problem can be overcome if a sufficient number of dates arc obtained in a micro-stratigraphic sequence and if the results arc replicated. Roberts ct al. (1997) have used the OSL dating technique to date mud-wasp nests overlying a faded human figure with headdress in a west Kimberley shelter. This figure belongs to the Bradshaw tradition, a figurative painting tradition which occurs throughout the Kimberley and is thought to be connected with the Dynamic paimings in Arnhcm Land. The significance of these images is unknown to contemporary Aboriginal people (Flood 1997:292). The dates indicate a minimum age for this figure of ca. 17,000 BP (Roberts ct al. 1997). Of significance to these results is the fact the Bradshaw style motifs overlie an entirely different stylistic painting tradition of Large Naturalistic Animals (Flood 1997:292). This has not yet been dated but must be earlier. The OSL dates on the mud nests overlying the Bradshaw figure have been achieved by examining small aliquot samples whereby any older contaminating silica grains would have been detected. They should therefore not be subject to the mixed age problem that plagued the jinmium samples. However, AMS radiocarbon determinations reported by \Vatchman et al. (1997) from Bradshaw pigments have produced mid to late Holocene ages and it seems unlikely that this style prevailed for 15,000 years. \Vhile more dates are necessary, at this stage it seems the OSL date should be favoured as it does not have the problems of contamination with younger or older materials which might effect direct daring of the pigments. The ochre 'crayons' from ivlalakunanja II and Nauwalabila I shelters in western Arnhem Land (Jones and Johnson 1985:219) are also contenders for art dating back to the earliest evidence for occupation of the continent. These crayons arc dated by association with the sediments which have a luminescence age between 50,000 BP and 60,000 BP (RobertS eta!. 1994). Jones' and Johnson's (1985:219) view that the ground iron ore pieces from Nauwalabila give 'proof of a Pleistocene antiquity for artistic activity in this region, and the strong presumption is that some of these high-grade ground iron ore 'crayons' were used to prepare paim for the rock arc' has met with mixed response. Some critics have claimed that ground haematite pieces at i'vlalakunanja II and Nauwalabila I do not in themselves constitute evidence for 'art', nor are they prima facie evidence for a symbolic referential system. Klein (in lvlorrc\ 1995: 1909) notes that ochre fragments of a similar age have been found associated with 'many Neanderthal sires and sires of comparable age in Africa without evidence for art' and that utilitarian uses for the ochre are conceivable. Bednarik (1992:385), however, believes that the distinction of facets and striations on ochre pieces is a meaningful one, suggesting their use was not utilitarian. Another criticism concerns the association of these finds and the sediments dared. In many sires in Australia and elsewhere where conjoining studies have been undertaken, vertical movement of cultural materials imo lower levels has been demonstrated. Richardson (in Schultz 1995) raises the possibility that the haematitc 'crayons' from lv[a\akunanja II and Nauwalabila I may have been displaced downwards in the deposit in just the same way that artefacts have been demonstrated to move (Richardson 1992). In short, direct dating of rock art has met with a number of problems and some inconsistent ages have resulted. The most secure dates for art are much as they were two decades ago and arc provided by association

O'Connor and

Fankh:w~cr

295

with dated deposits. For example, engravings in the Early Man Shelter, North Queensland have a minimum age of 13,000 BP established by association with the dared deposits covering them (Rosenfeld et al. 1981:12). However direct dating studies on rock art are in their infancy in Australia. As the methods are refined and the results replicated, many of the inconsistent results which arise from problems of small sample size wil! disappear and a better understanding of changes in regional artistic traditions through time will emerge.

THE OCHRE-COVERED SLAB FROM CG1 'But is it art?' (Layton 1978:25) ... and does it matter? There is no doubt that systematic use of ochre in Australian sites is as early as the earliest evidence for occupation. The Carpenter's Gap 1 find adds to this growing body of data. In view of the size of the slab and the fact that it was horizontally bedded in the deposit, the possibility of it being derived by vertical movement from higher in the deposit can be discounted. \Ve now address the issue of whether finds such as the ochre-covered slab from Carpenter's Gap 1, constitute evidence for 'art'. All the earliest Australian evidence for art falls into the non-iconic category. The earliest dated iconic art is the faded human figure in the Bradshaw style underlying the wasp nest dated to the last major phase of glacial aridity, 17,000 years ago. Layton ( 1978) draws the distinction between art which combines 'the symbolic and the aesthetic', and visual communication which merely signifies, but admits that neither the symbolic nor the aesthetic are universal, nor that they necessarily always occur in conjunction with each other. Forge (1991) and Rosenfeld (1993:77) apply such a distinction to body and object stencils, prints and finger marking. Forge (1991 :40) argues that stencils are not art in that 'they are not mediated through any symbolic system, they are not part of culture.' Rather, they are 'the equivalent of signing the visitor's book', telling us about an individual's presence and perhaps an individual's connectedness to place. Rosenfeld (1993:76) similarly queries whether finger flutings are 'qualitatively the same cultural phenomenon as other rock art'. Stencils and finger flutings may thus be understood as marks that manifest a person's relationship to place in the gesture of their execution. Both gestural and referential graphic systems of marks are visual manifestations that carry meaning. However, the personalised mark mechanically executed in hand stencil or finger fluting stresses the individual relationship of person to marked place, while the use of stylistic graphic units marks a corporately encoded relationship to place. There are no a priori reasons why gestural systems, such as hand stencils or finger flutings should not operate in parallel with a referential graphic system (Rosenfeld 1993: 77). Others would argue that whether we wish to eschew the use of the word art and call it marking, imaging or any other thing, what we are interested in identifying in prehistory is evidence of a system for communicating these corporate cultural meanings and that the certain identification of this in prehistory requires the presence of iconics. In the context of ethnographic and contemporary Aboriginal v1ews, however, such distinctions are not meaningful. The ethnoarchaeological experience of one of us (S. O'C) in \~Testern Australia and particularly the central Kimberley, indicates that while the stencils placed in shelters are certainly put there for the reasons given by Forge, to see them as only this is simplistic and inappropriate, given the framework within which they are made. Indeed stencils are as mediated through culture as any associated iconics because they exemplify the individuals connectedness to place, the Dreaming and the country. There is a fluidity and synergy in such concepts that does not sit comfortably with the dichotomy drawn by Forge (e.g. Mowaljarlai et al. 1988). The \Vandjina images discussed above illustrate this well. These are not iconic images of the creative ancestral figures, painted by people; they are the creative beings who placed themselves on the rock after the

296


creative process was completed (Utemara and Vinnicombe 1992:25). Mowaljarlai (in Mowaljarlai et al. 1988:691) sums this up elegantly: We have never thought of our rock-paintings as 'Art'. To us they are livlAGES. livlAGES with ENERGIES that keep us ALIVE- EVERY PERSON, EVERYTHING WE STAND ON, ARE MADE FROM, EAT AND LIVE ON. Those IMAGES were put down for us by our Creator, Wandjina, so that we would know how to STAY ALIVE, make everything grow and CONTINUE what he gave to us in the first place. We should dance those images back into the ground in corroborees. That would make us learn the story, to put new life into those IMAGES. Of course, the human origins of some paintings in some shelters are recognised by Aborigines (Watchman 1992:29), bur it is doubtful whether they apply the concept of 'art' to such images. Jones (1990:29) captures the difficulty of labelling 'art' or 'not art' in his analysis of the multivalency and non-linear nature of the qualities of spiritual essence or marr and brilliance or bir'yu11 based on Morphy's (1989, 1992) work with the .ivlarra-larr-mirri people of eastern Arnhem Land. The concept of marr is similar to that of bir')'lm- the sensation of shimmering light that could sometimes be created by an artist when he painted the cross-hatching designs, rrarrk on a bark sheet or a hollow log coffin (Morphy 1989). This bir)wn was seen to be an emanation of the inherent power of the design itself, which since it depicted ancestral beings or elements associated with them, was imbued with their essence. It is this that gave the design its shining and sometimes blinding quality. Such paintings were referred to as being mali Wangarr- literally 'shades of the ancestral world'. Similarly some natural products also contained this shining essence (Morphy 1992:196). In such cases the pigment used does not simply represent certain qualities, it possesses its own power. This power is momentarily transferred through its application as well as through the application of the design. Blood, fat, beeswax, rainbow lorikeet and cockatoo feathers quintessentially had this quality (Morphy 1992:196). When 'applied to the bodies of key actors in the great ceremonies' they were said 'to imbue these men with the essential internalmarr power appropriate to their proximity to the WangmT forces' (Jones 1990:29). Similarly, the moiety songs of the Djan'kawu myth describe how the Ancestral \Vav..~lak sisters' dillybags, made of brilliantly coloured lorikeet feathers, had this power. When discarded they changed to stone. Today these rocks on the coast near Milingimbi still radiate bir)run and continue to unite the past and the present, the Ancestral and the Natural worlds (Morphy 1992:197). Morphy (1987:21) explains that 'painting a design on a person enables him or her to be placed in direct contact with the Ancestral Past- the paintings themselves, as controllable manifestations of the Ancestors, providing people with the means of tapping the sources of the Ancestral power'. In this respect the use of ochre body decoration in ceremony, the use of ochre to cover the bones of the dead in secondary burial or to place a stencil or iconic on the wall of a shelter may equally be considered 'art' or 'not art'. The ochre crayons at Malakunanja II and Namvalabila I are as likely to have functioned as part of such a system as any iconic. Whether any of the Australian archaeological evidence could be said to constitute 'art', is probably not a meaningful question in the context of the past, or even the present. In contemporary Aboriginal society the notion of 'art' had little meaning prior to the creation of the commercial art market (see, for example, Layton 1992).

CONCLUSION When we factor in the effect of taphonomic processes on symbolic production of the Pleistocene (Bednarik 1994:69), it is hardly surprising that evidence for it has been slmv in emerging. However, as it accumulates it is changing our perspective on the nature of Pleistocene occupation of Australia.


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