EVENT: Archaeology Seminar Series

Murujuga, Burrup Peninsula, comprises one of the world’s greatest petroglyphs assemblages. Spanning many tens of thousands of years, displaying a myriad of styles and subjects; this rock art provides many stories. Correspondingly, the discipline of rock art research has a number of paradigms and ways of interpreting. One of the advantages Australia has over many other rock art provinces is the existence of people directly linked to the art, it is a living tradition. This, sometimes, can add a complication to research but in the main it adds a rich and insightful way of viewing rock art. There are other ways of getting at the story than through the Aboriginal informed process. Description of what we see, the formal recording and analysis of objects has proved to be useful in archaeology. Ways of looking, ways of identifying and ways of interpreting are interwoven with the rock art of Murujuga. This seminar explores just some of the intertwining of these narratives, revealing patterns in understanding the petroglyphs and the sacred landscape of Murujuga.