Photo: Travel & S | Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
A new scientific dating technique used on a mineral layer coating Kimberley rock art shelters means scientists may be able to show that Australian rock carvings are among the oldest in the world. This is exciting because, although evidence indicates humans arrived in Australia 65,000 years ago, rock art has not been dated to anywhere near as old. The oldest date comes from charcoal lines drawn on a rock fragment, at 28,000 years old but research suggests engravings are older than the painted art, says Helen Green, a research fellow in rock art dating at the University of Melbourne and part of a team that has worked with the Balangarra Aboriginal people.
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