Murujuga Marni - Dampier Petroglyphs: shadows in the landscape, echoes across time

Abstract

The genesis for this thesis came out of the industrial development of the Burrup, one of the 42 islands of the Dampier Archipelago, located two thirds the way up the Western Australian coast, in a region known as the Pilbara. One of the major rock art areas in Australia and the foremost petroglyphs region, the Dampier Archipelago comprises arguably the highest concentration of petroglyphs in the world. It was to record Aboriginal archaeological culture as a member of the Dampier Archaeological Project team (under contract to Woodside Offshore Petroleum Pty Ltd) prior to the construction of the North West Shelf Venture Karratha Gas Plant, which brought me to the Burrup. It was this same company that established, many years later, the research scholarship that instigated this current study. Rock art is owned by the Aboriginal people of the area, and protected under state and federal legislation. Custodianship is held by Yaburara and Mardudhunera descendants, and Wonggoottoo and Ngarluma people. In the local Ngarluma language the Archipelago is known as Murujuga; the word for engraving and rock art is Marni (DAS 1979; Von Brandenstein 1973). Stylistic form, technique and subject depiction in the rock art of the Dampier Archipelago have been interpreted as demonstrable of a deep and rich antiquity. ... This thesis presents a revised model of the artistic traditions and their associated petroglyphs. The art is not painted on the rock surfaces but etched into it, nor are there suitable rock coatings which may provide a means of dating it. Through a combined use of superimposition, where one motif overlies another, and a five state reference of motif contrast condition (an index of weathering), I propose a temporal resolution. Analysis of 5,650 petroglyph sample recorded at 17 site complexes, consisting of ten locations on the Burrup and seven from five other islands, allows a relative sequence of the rock art production to be established.