A kangaroo stone mural painted in an early naturalistic style, about 2 meters long and the size of a kangaroo, unearthed in Australia. (Photo taken from the University of Melbourne’s website at purple.unimelb.edu.au)
A kangaroo painting created by an Aboriginal artist in Australia more than 17,000 years ago has become the oldest complete rock art in Australia.
AFP and the British “New Scientist” magazine (NewS cientist) reported that, according to research published today, this stone wall painting unearthed in the Kimberley region of Western Australia (Kimberley), painted in an early naturalistic style, is about 2 meters long, similar to the actual size of the kangaroo.
This work, dating from around 17,300 years ago, shows that the oldest known rock art in Australia is animal-based, similar to early cave art found in Indonesia and Europe.
Thousands of petroglyph art sites have been found throughout Australia, but they are particularly numerous in the Kimberley region. However, it is very difficult to date these paintings because the mineral and organic materials needed to date these artworks are very difficult to find.
The researchers were able to date the paintings by measuring the radiocarbon signals emitted from ancient beehives located below and above the paintings.
The researchers found the kangaroo painting in the roof of a cavern containing thousands of mud wasp nests, estimated to be between 17,500 and 17,100 years old, making it the oldest rock painting ever found in Australia.
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