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Of Lightning Brothers and White Cockatoos: dating the antiquity of signifying systems in the Northern Territory, Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Bruno David ,
Ian McNiven ,
Val Attenbrow ,
Josephine Flood  and
Jackie Collins
Bruno David
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology & Sociology, The University of Queensland, QLD 4072, Australia
Ian McNiven
Affiliation:
Department of Classics and Archaeology, The University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3052, Australia
Val Attenbrow
Affiliation:
Anthropology Division, Australian Museum, PO Box A285, Sydney South NSW 2000, Australia
Josephine Flood
Affiliation:
Australian Heritage Commission, PO Box 1567, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
Jackie Collins
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2350, Australia
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Northern Australia is one of the very few regions of the world where an established tradition of rock-art has continued and extends into present-day knowledge. Excavation of deposits under the painted surfaces allows the age of the paintings to be estimated, by linking across to these deposits and their dateable contexts. One can begin to assess the antiquity of those systems of knowledge and of ‘signifying’.

Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 68 , Issue 259 , June 1994 , pp. 241 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1994

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