ARMINDALE, AUSTRALIA—Rock art in Australia’s northwest Kimberley dates to the Paleolithic era, according to a report in Perth Now. A team of researchers with the Australian Research Council documented, analyzed, and dated more than 200 rock art sites in the region with different dating techniques. One of the techniques, optically stimulated luminescence, dated sand grains found in fossilized mud wasp nests that had been built over the ancient images. “As long as we understand how the nests are constructed and how well they’re preserved over thousands of years, we can use the resulting age to confidently claim that the artist painted this image before the mud wasp constructed its nest,” explained geochronologist Kira Westaway of Macquarie University. Accelerator mass spectrometry was also used to date the carbon in the wasp nests and spots of beeswax found on the images. June Ross of the University of New England said that the oldest image in the study, “a perfectly preserved, yam-like motif painted in mulberry colored ochre on the ceiling of a deep cavern,” was dated to more than 16,000 years old. She added that Australia’s oldest pictures may have been painted along the ancient coastline and may now be submerged. To read more, go to "The First Artists."
