Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Convenors:
Emily Miller, Charles Darwin University, Australia, Emily.m.j.miller@gmail.com
Roxanne Tsang, University of Oxford; University of Papua New Guinea, roxanne.tsang@arch.ox.ac.uk
Rock art is a complex, socially embedded window into the past, and often still connects to contemporary beliefs for Indigenous peoples. Detailed studies of the material culture in rock art have supported the development and re-evaluation of chronologies, provided insights into ritual aspects of the past on an international scale, as well as clarifying our understanding of how some types of objects intersect through all parts of life. However, to do these studies, a clear understanding of what the objects themselves are and how they connect to the rock art is needed. We invite papers that take a holistic approach to examining material culture in rock art for a nuanced understanding. In particular, those that explore broader questions and challenges in studying material culture in rock art, including working with Indigenous communities
Papers:
Material Culture in Egyptian Predynastic Rock Art: Considering Rock Art through Multiple Lines of Evidence
Dr Fritz Hardtke, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
The stylistic analysis of rock art in relation to other forms of material culture has long been a valuable approach in archaeological research. In the Egyptian Predynastic context, this method is particularly useful, as multiple lines of evidence—ceramics, figurines, decorated artefacts, and relief-carved palettes—offer comparative material for establishing chronology, attribution and at times can contribute to theories on meaning. The rich corpus of Predynastic rock art shares motifs and stylistic elements with these artifacts, providing a basis for dating and contextualising rock art within broader cultural developments.
This paper explores the potential of stylistic comparison by examining key examples where rock art motifs parallel those found in other material culture. By tracing iconographic and compositional similarities, I assess the extent to which rock art can be integrated into the existing Predynastic chronological framework. Additionally, I consider the implications of these connections for understanding authorship, cultural transmission, and regional interaction. Given Egypt’s well-documented material record, this approach offers unique insights that may not be as readily available in other archaeological contexts. Ultimately, this study highlights the importance of interdisciplinary stylistic analysis for refining our understanding of rock art’s place within the broader material culture of early Egypt.
Interpreting the Sky in Rock Art: A Preliminary Study of the Representation of Astronomical Objects in Rock Art in the Kisar Island, Indonesia
Kharisma Nabila, Faculty of Cultural Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia; Research Assistant, Archaeometry Research Centre, National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia
Adinda Tasya Namira, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia
Lucas Wattimena, Environmental, Maritime, and Sustainable Culture Archaeology Research Centre, National Research and Innovation Agency, Indonesia
R. Cecep Eka Permana, Dept of Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia
Celestial figures are becoming a new focus and challenges for archaeologists to explore global questions about the knowledge of astronomy in prehistoric rock art. Studies on celestial figures have been carried out in several regions in the world such as Europe, America, and Australia. In Indonesia, it remains scarce, necessitating for further investigation. This paper aims to provide a preliminary identification of rock art depictions with geometric-astronomical motifs in Kisar Island. A desk study was used to obtain rock art documentation data. This study is analytical-descriptive. In this study, we identified the shape, distribution, and colours of rock art motifs that are similar with celestial figures. The function of celestial figures will be explored through an ethnographic study of the communities of Kisar Island. Furthermore, we compare celestial figures and geometric shapes between rock art in Kisar and Sulawesi, and to broader the context, we also compare rock art in mainland Asia and Australia. The implications of this study are to understand the distribution of rock art with celestial figures and their similarity in colours, patterns, and environments in Sulawesi and Maluku and contributing to a deeper knowledge of the inter-connectedness between prehistoric societies and their mind to the cosmos.
Material Culture in the Rock Art of Papua New Guinea
Roxanne Tsang, University of Oxford, UK
Sebastien Katuk, Auwim community, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea
François-Xavier Ricaut, University of Toulouse, France
Matthew Leavesley, University of Papua New Guinea, Papua New Guinea; Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories & Futures; James Cook University, Australia
Globally, many early rock art sites do not come with ethnography. In Papua New Guinea (PNG), we can inform rock art through ethnography thereby bringing multiple perspectives on the interpretation of rock art. In particular, depictions of material culture in rock art are important to investigate and many motifs require multidisciplinary approaches for investigation. Here the material culture represented in the rock art of the Upper Karawari- Arafundi region in East Sepik Province, PNG is reviewed and presented. The material culture stencils identified includes bone ornaments, a variety of shell ornaments, a bilum and a steel bush knife – items that are connected to all aspects of life for local people. This overview indicates that a comprehensive analysis of these material culture themes through cognition, archaeological science, ethnography through Indigenous narratives and museum collections can provide fascinating insights into the social, cultural and environmental context of these objects, culture and its people.
Weaving Evidence: Methods for Identifying Connections Between Ethnographic Collections and Rock Art in Northern Australia
Emily Miller, Charles Darwin University, Australia
Jeffrey Lee, Djok Traditional Owner, Kakadu National Park, Australia
Emily Grey, University of Western Australia, Australia
Balangarra Aboriginal Corporation, Australia
Identifying material culture and things connected to it in the rock art can lead to better understandings of past and ongoing cultural practices, methods for doing this with Indigenous communities are continually being improved on. This paper explores methodologies for identifying interconnected things such as plants and fibre objects made from plants in the rock art of Northern Australia. These depictions show the ways that plants and fibre objects were used through time in the area, however artistic choices and traditions sometimes result in differences between the depictions and the ethnographic equivalents. Changes to the material culture used over time also mean that ethnographic collections do not always align with the rock art. These factors contribute to the challenges in identifying fibre objects and plants in the rock art but working across multiple sources of information helps to manage these issues. This paper explores the methodology for identifying connections between fibre objects and plant material through case studies from western Arnhem Land and the Kimberley.