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ARCHAEOLOGY

Australian Pleistocene rock art

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Obtaining accurate dates for rock art is important to both archaeologists and Aboriginal Traditional Owners, but a lack of organic material associated with rock art can make this challenging. Using radiocarbon dating of mud wasp nests, Finch et al. show that naturalistic depictions of animals in the Kimberley region of northern Australia date to between 13,000 and 17,000 years ago.

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Fig. 1: The oldest dated Kimberley rock painting.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit, Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research and Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Paul S. C. Taçon

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  1. Paul S. C. Taçon
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Correspondence to Paul S. C. Taçon.

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Taçon, P.S.C. Australian Pleistocene rock art. Nat Hum Behav 5, 301–302 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01043-y

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