Welcome to Rock Art Australia’s October E-News.
RAA virtual event held on 29 September
Thank you to everyone who tuned-in and participated in ‘Insights from the Dating Team’ zoom event last week. Almost 300 households joined the webinar. It’s a wonderful way to be kept in the loop on what’s happening with the various projects. Many of you have asked for the link to the recording – click the link below to watch the video. Please share with your friends.
The panelists mention numerous dates
Dr Damien Finch’s radiocarbon dates on mud wasp nests associated with some 21 different Gwion motifs from many rock shelters show a consistent pattern with a culmination around 12,000 years, although some could be older than 16,000 years. There are also many other dates associated with other styles, especially the ‘Irregular Infill Animal Period’ that confirm that the IIAP paintings are consistently older than the Gwion figures. See here the Kangaroo that is 17,300 years old.
Over the past 7 years the scientists have learned that it can be remarkably difficult to be completely certain about the relationship of a measurable material such as a wasp nest and the art they are trying to date. At Rock Art Australia we’ve always believed that we need lots of dates from lots of sites to be able to say – ‘here’s the evidence’ – and that is what the Rock Art Dating Project is working to achieve.
The panelists mention numerous publications
Access to research papers is via the RAA website. Read all media coverage here.
Thank you to all our supporters for your terrific suggestions, not least that we should do this again, soon! We will take on board your feedback and aim to bring you another event soon.
Best wishes to all our friends and supporters.
Cas Bennetto I CEO
