Ancient Art

Adam,

Now that you've done some research on the current art of the Aborigines, lets take a step back in time. Read the following information below, then check on the listed web sites. You should get a good idea of what ancient Australian rock art looked like. You'll also learn some pretty interesting information.

Aboriginal art really involves story telling, myths, rituals, sorcery, and magic, where the artist describes their Dreaming, the stories of creation, their beliefs, and their spirituality. The strong relationship between the ancestral beings of the 'time before time', the Dreamtime, with the landscape and every living creature they created forms the basis for this art. The ancestral spirits came to a land devoid of features and created everything -- the rivers, hills, plants, animals, people, and the relationships between people and animals. When finished, they changed into landforms, animals, stars, or other objects. To the Aboriginal people, the past is still alive and will remain so into the future.

Aboriginal Rock Art

Indigenous Australian art - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ROCK ART: Carnarvon National Park, Australia

After looking at the sites above, answer the following questions:

1. Why do you think these paintings were created?
2. How old do secular scientists believe these cave paintings are?
3. Where is Cathedral Cave located? (Which Territory, and in what national park)
4. If you had the choice, which types of Aboriginal art would you like to copy. Modern Aboriginal art, or ancient?

Finally, I enjoyed reading your answers, but some of them you could've gotten into more detail. Look at the picture at the top of the page. You could click here to look at a larger picture (click on the picture again when you get to the website.) Take the name into consideration "Kangaroo Dreaming." Don't tell me you see lots of different things. Be specific. What do you see? How was it painted? What do those shapes look like to you? How do the fit in with the name?

HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS:
Click on the "comments" link and post your answers. You must post as "anonymous." This will save paper.