Scientists have identified a life-size portrait of a kangaroo as Australia s oldest rock painting. The ancient art, described Monday in the journal Nature Human Behavior, is between 17,500 and 17,100 years old.
Oldest-known rock art in Australia is 17,300-year-old kangaroo in the Kimberley, wasp nests show
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FebFebruary 2021 at 8:56pm
Traditional owner Ian Waina inspecting a painting of a kangaroo that is at least 12,300 years old, based on the age of wasp nests over the paint.
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As far as Australian icons go, it s hard to look past the kangaroo. Now it turns out the quintessential macropod is also the subject of Australia s oldest-known rock painting.
Key points:
For the first time, traditional owners and researchers dated rock paintings in the naturalistic style to between 17,000 and 13,000 years ago
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Researchers in western Australia have been working to date all ancient cave art
They are using a technique that involves radiocarbon dating mud wasp nests
The nests overhang the ancient pieces of art painted to the sides of caves
The 2m drawing of a kangaroo was dated to between 17,500 and 17,100 years old
It sits on the Unghango clan estate in Balanggarra country, Western Australia