Ancient Art Gallery

Aboriginal cave paintings in rock shelter, Gwion Gwion rock art (formerly called Bradshaw)

Aboriginal cave paintings in rock shelter, Gwion Gwion rock art (formerly called Bradshaw). These dynamic line figures wearing ornaments and headdresses and carrying boomerangs and other weapons are believed to be the oldest figurative art in Australia. Some of the rock art in north-western Australia has yielded a minimum age in excess of 20 000 years. It is by far the oldest human art in the southern hemisphere and may be among the most ancient in the world. In this category are ant-like charcoal paintings now known as Gwion Gwion figures, like this one sealed by a silica desert varnish into the walls of a rock shelter. Modern Aborigines disclaim authorship of such art and say that it was done by Dreamtime spirits.Manning Gorge, Kimberley, Western Australia

© Reg Morrison/AUSCAPE All rights reserved

Frieze of dynamic figures and a turtle

Frieze of dynamic figures and a turtle, part of a frieze of seven running warriors on the wall of a rock shelter (Mountford Gallery), believed to have been painted around 6000 years ago. Ubirr, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia

Aboriginal Culture, Aboriginal Rock Art, Aborigines, An, Ancient Art, Australian Aboriginal Art, Caves, Depictions, Drawings, Dreamtime, Dynamic, Figures, Historical, Indigenous Australians, Mimi, Mountford Gallery, Mythology, Myths, Ochre, Overhang, Paintings, Pictures, Pigment, Shelter, Stories, Style, Symbolism, Symbols, Traditional, World Heritage Area, World Heritage Site