20,000 yr old Tazmanian Paintings?

1986 - Archaeologists working in the south-west discovered Aboriginal rock paintings thought to be 20,000 years old. In 1987 they found Aboriginal stencils of handprints dating back to the last Ice Age.

i found this on a "About Tazmania" history site on the web,does anyone else have info on this? there doesnt seem to be anything much more mentioned about it.

Regards and thanks.

An abbo's handprint from 20,000 years ago? What's wrong with that?

Seems pretty consistent with modern knowledge of man's history to me...

Is this thread up because man isn't supposed to have inhabited Taz that long ago?

Zip

Tasmania is spelt with an s.
The aboriginies claim they were in aus 60,000 years ago

i just wanted some pictures or anything with more detailed information about this particular find in Tasmania? thought someone on ATS whos studied the Aboriginies might have something?

It's unusually old, and an interesting find, but nothing outside the range of what archaeologists and anthropologists think. I've seen figures indicating that the ancestors of the Aboriginals arrived some 50,000 years ago, though I wouldn't be surprised if more finds turned up a still earlier date.

Because of mounting evidence I think that scientist need to push back the times for the various migrations of humans through out the world. The Meadowcroft Rockshelter (controversially) is pre-Columbian, but evidence of another pre-Columbian occupation turned up recently in I think the Carolinas. A site at the southern tip of South America was conclusively dated before 25,00o yrs. before present. The idea that the Aborigines were in Tasmania that long ago is not unexpected or surprising, to me.

Guys,guys,guys,
i know its not unbelievble,i just want to know if any one has more information about this particular find in Tasmania! because i cant find any pictures or further info on this particular place any where on the web,ive tried all the usual search engines and nothing comes up.

www.aboriginalartonline.com...

Maybe you will find these helpful. The image is not from the website I referenced, it's from some online store that sells copies of artwork.

Zip

Sorry can't find any pictures of the Tasmanian rock art but found an interesting page detailing the age of aboriginal rock art.

Ochre is the main pigment used in rock art and is plentiful across most of Australia. Pieces of ochre, including some showing signs of wear through use, have been found in almost all of Australia's ice-age sites. Most have been radiocarbon dated and the dates range from 10 000 to 40 000 years.....


......The oldest dates so far found by direct dating of art were obtained by geologist Alan Watchman for layers of pigment in two rock-shelters on Cape York in north Queensland, one of 25 000 years and one of almost 30000 years.

There is, however, indirect evidence going back a lot further, leading some archaeologists to argue that the rock art galleries in northern Australia are probably the oldest in the world. This is, of course, a contentious area, with recent claims for dates in southern France and northern Italy going back as far as 35 000 years.

Archaeologist Sue O'Connor at the Australian National University has found a buried fragment of rock painting preserved in the limestone rock-shelter of Carpenter's Gap in the Kimberley (near Windjana Gorge National Park) in a layer dated to 40 000 years old. The red pigment seems to be the remains of paint on a rock art fragment fallen from the ceiling above. The pigment's survival in the deposit is due to exceptionally good preservation conditions in the highly alkaline soil, in which organic material such as seeds, paperbark and wood shavings survive even in the lowest layers.


www.aboriginalartonline.com...

Oldest...

Woha... now this is interesting.

Originally posted by mad scientist
Sorry can't find any pictures of the Tasmanian rock art but found an interesting page detailing the age of aboriginal rock art.

Ochre is the main pigment used in rock art and is plentiful across most of Australia. Pieces of ochre, including some showing signs of wear through use, have been found in almost all of Australia's ice-age sites. Most have been radiocarbon dated and the dates range from 10 000 to 40 000 years.....


......The oldest dates so far found by direct dating of art were obtained by geologist Alan Watchman for layers of pigment in two rock-shelters on Cape York in north Queensland, one of 25 000 years and one of almost 30000 years.

There is, however, indirect evidence going back a lot further, leading some archaeologists to argue that the rock art galleries in northern Australia are probably the oldest in the world. This is, of course, a contentious area, with recent claims for dates in southern France and northern Italy going back as far as 35 000 years.

Archaeologist Sue O'Connor at the Australian National University has found a buried fragment of rock painting preserved in the limestone rock-shelter of Carpenter's Gap in the Kimberley (near Windjana Gorge National Park) in a layer dated to 40 000 years old. The red pigment seems to be the remains of paint on a rock art fragment fallen from the ceiling above. The pigment's survival in the deposit is due to exceptionally good preservation conditions in the highly alkaline soil, in which organic material such as seeds, paperbark and wood shavings survive even in the lowest layers.


www.aboriginalartonline.com...

it boggles my mind how they lived such a clean existence....40000 years and all they left we're handprints.... its either incredibly sad or remarkable lol

it boggles my mind how they lived such a clean existence....40000 years and all they left we're handprints.... its either incredibly sad or remarkable lol

yeah,i agree with you-perhaps they just lived as simple people keeping themselves happy with their art,i like the idea of peaceful people hunting,happily and causing no problems on their nice little island!

Originally posted by Azza
it boggles my mind how they lived such a clean existence....40000 years and all they left we're handprints.... its either incredibly sad or remarkable lol

Well, they left something else, too. Themselves!

The aborigines exist today and their culture hasn't changed much in, uhh, 40,000 years.

Zip

The aborigines exist today and their culture hasn't changed much in, uhh, 40,000 years.

er,yeh-your right,thats actually a really stupid thing for me to have not pointed out-you dont actually get more hard evidence than that do you!

Regards.

While bushwalking near Perth I found an ochre covered hand print indented into a rock a bit smaller than a bowling ball. I have had an anthropologist and a paleontologist suggesting that I have found a rare and very old artefact estimated between 40,000 nad 50,000 years old. There has never been a hand art palate ever found before, so not all in this field are so easy to agree that this is indeed a hand print. The red/orange coating has been tested and confirmed as ochre. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can have my pieces authenticated

I may be able to help find what site you are after if you can give me some more information. Aboriginals have inhabited Tasmania since at least 34,000 years and there are several sites that fit your description. my guess would be the site your after might be kutikina cave inhabited 19,000 years ago with some of the oldest ice age handstencils in Australia more than 20 from 6 individuals the cave was found in 1977 but the hand stencils wernt discovered until 1986. hope this helps

Many of the oldest aboriginal sites are unfortunately lost to us after the water rose after the last 2 ice ages. See the map below.

I would agree to loosing some of the oldest aboriginal sites to the rising of the sea after the last ice age. However I would add caution to this statement as it represents Aboriginals are coastal people which I have found to be not entirely acurate. My research has found Aboriginals to be seasonal nomads and prefer riverine enviroments due to fresh water and abundant food sources. What has been found in perth is that they spent the summer on the coast and the winter inland along rivers not only for food and water but protection from the elements. As Pre-History in Australia is a fairly new area of science it concerns me that these blanket approaches are taken as gospel so that if any new knowledge is brought forward it dismissed as not fitting into these preconceived parameters. I myself are experiencing these conditions with the ochre hand that I have found and it is not being welcomed so warmly in the scientific community as they say it doesnt fit into what is known about their culture

News Article with Pictures

Aboriginal cave art said to be of international significance has been found in a planned logging coupe in a Tasmanian old growth forest that conservationists have been trying to protect for 20 years.

A collection of a dozen ochre hand stencils have been found on the walls of a cave complex yet to be fully explored in the valley of the upper Huon River in southern Tasmania.

The art has been estimated by experts at about 15,000 years old, according to the state timber agency, Forestry Tasmania.

They form only the third set of hand stencils found on the island. The other two have been dated to a similar time of the last glacial maximum, when Tasmania was the southernmost stronghold of human habitation.

Despite their age, some of the stencils clearly show the outline of one elegant, long-fingered hand, and the stubs of fingers on another. They were found months ago, but their existence was only confirmed yesterday by Tasmanian Aboriginal Land Council director Brian Mansell.

"It's certainly one of the most important discoveries of the last decade," Mr Mansell said. "But it is an extremely fragile place."

Only a handful of people have been inside the cave, which is part of a limestone karst system about two kilometres outside the boundary of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

The art was found by Forestry Tasmania specialists who were called in to examine the system. A road has been built nearby and another coupe between the caves and the heritage area boundary was to be logged.

The Wilderness Society, which has been seeking inclusion of these forests in the heritage area since 1982, said the discovery was a vindication.

"It speaks volumes about the mysteries that still remain in the Tasmanian wilderness," said campaigner Geoff Law. "These forests have preserved this art for millennia. It stayed in magnificent seclusion until the advent of logging roads."

Tasmanian Premier Jim Bacon said the caves would be protected. Forestry Tasmania's general manager of operations, Kim Creak, said it would work with the Aboriginal community to manage the area. He called for it to be left undisturbed.

www.theage.com.au...

[edit on 5-11-2004 by Xabora]

Thanks very much Xabora,thats it! and thanks Dan west for your offer to help,much appreciated both of you