A review of rock art dating in the Kimberley, Western Australia

• Published in: Journal of archaeological science Vol. 39; no. 3; pp. 573 - 577
• Main Author: Aubert, Maxime
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Australia and New-Guinea; Dating; Ethnology and art; Excavation and methods; Kimberley, Western Australia; Laboratory methods; Methodology and general studies; Oceania; Optically stimulated luminescence; Prehistory and protohistory; Radiocarbon; Rock art dating; Uranium-series; Australia; Oceania; Rock art dating; Optically stimulated luminescence; Radiocarbon; Uranium-series; Kimberley, Western Australia; Cave art; Optoluminescence; Archaeometry; Dating; Rock art
• ISSN: 0305-4403; 1095-9238
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2011.11.009

This paper critically reviews the various approaches used to estimate the age of the rock art in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. They include: (i) the relative superimposition of styles; (ii) the use of diagnostic subject matter (depictions of extinct animals, stone tool technology, introduced European and Asian objects and animals); (iii) the recovery of a ‘painted’ slab from a dated archaeological unit; (iv) radiocarbon dating of beeswax figures, charcoal pigments, organic matter in overlying mineral deposits and ‘accreted paint layers’ (oxalate rich crusts and amorphous silica skin), pollen grains from an overlaying mud-wasp nest; and (v) optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of quartz grains from overlying mud-wasp nests. Future directions for rock art dating in the Kimberley include uranium-series dating of overlying and underlying mineral deposits.