Ages for Australia's oldest rock paintings

Naturalistic depictions of animals are a common subject for the world's oldest dated rock art, including wild bovids in Indonesia and lions in France's Chauvet Cave. The oldest known Australian Aboriginal figurative rock paintings also commonly depict naturalistic animals but, until now, quantitative dating was lacking. Here, we present 27 radiocarbon dates on mud wasp nests that constrain the ages of 16 motifs from this earliest known phase of rock painting in the Australian Kimberley region. These initial results suggest that paintings in this style proliferated between 17,000 and 13,000 years ago. Notably, one painting of a kangaroo is securely dated to between 17,500 and 17,100 years on the basis of the ages of three overlying and three underlying wasp nests. This is the oldest radiometrically dated in situ rock painting so far reported in Australia. Radiocarbon dating of mud wasp nests in the Kimberley region of Western Australia has established ages of up to 17,000 years for rock art from the earliest known, naturalistic, period of Australian Aboriginal figurative paintings.

Automated summary

Radiocarbon dating of mud wasp nests in the Kimberley region of Western Australia has established ages of up to 17,000 years for rock art from the earliest known, naturalistic, period of Australian Aboriginal figurative paintings. The results suggest that paintings in this style proliferated between 17,000 and 13,000 years ago, with one kangaroo painting securely dated to between 17,500 and 17,100 years.