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Australian Rock Art

A New Synthesis

Robert Layton author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:14th Jan '10

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Australian Rock Art cover

A survey of Australian rock art, presenting detailed case studies revealing the significance of both recent and ancient art for Australia's living indigenous communities.

The origins of rock art in Australia are probably as old as that of the hunter-gatherers of Western Europe, well-known for the prehistoric caves of Altamira and Lascaux. That the practice of painting and engraving on rocks continues in parts of northern and central Australia emphasises the importance of this art as a source of visual information for Australia's indigenous communities, Rock art can be 'read' to determine cultural processes and provides a durable record of thousands of years of cultural change. This book is an extensive survey of Australian rock art, presenting detailed case studies revealing the significance of both recent and ancient art for Australia's living indigenous communities. Archaeological data provides evidence of the ways in which rock art traditions have changed over 15,000 or more years in response to changes in the environment, the development of new forms of social organisation and the impact of European colonial settlement.

ISBN: 9780521125789

Dimensions: 280mm x 210mm x 16mm

Weight: 690g

304 pages