- published: 06 Apr 2015
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Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:
In addition, petroforms and inukshuks are rock art made by aligning or piling natural stones. The stones themselves are used as large markings on the ground.
The term rock art appears in the published literature as early as the 1940s. It has also been described as "rock carvings", "rock drawings", "rock engravings", "rock inscriptions", "rock paintings", "rock pictures", "rock records" "rock sculptures.,
Both petroglyphs and pictographs can be parietal. That is, they can be on the walls of a cave or rock shelter, open-air (meaning they are made on exposed natural outcrops) or monument-based, which are made on stones consciously deposited.
The earliest evidence of painting derives from archaeological sites in two rock-shelters in Arnhem Land, in northern Australia. In the lowest layer of material at these sites there are used pieces of ochre estimated to be 60,000 years old. Archaeologists have also found a fragment of rock painting preserved in a limestone rock-shelter in the Kimberley region of North-Western Australia dated at 40 000 years old. Pigments from the "Bradshaw paintings" of the Kimberley are so old they have become part of the rock itself, making carbon dating impossible. Some experts suggest that these paintings are in the vicinity of 50,000 years old and may even pre-date aboriginal settlement.