Style, Space And Social Interaction: An Archaeological Investigation of Rock Art in Inland North Queensland, Australia

Abstract

The rock art of the north Queensland highlands has previously been argued to be the northern limit of the Central Queensland Province, based on a similarity of techniques and motifs. In this paper we test this hypothesis through an archaeological study of the rock art of Middle Park Station in the Gregory Range. Motifs from 88 rock art sites were analysed, revealing a predominance of stencilling of a limited range of motifs, with rare paintings of mostly geometric motifs and similarly rare occurrences of geometric motifs executed in a variety of engraving techniques. We argue these results, coupled with other considerations of distance and biogeography, suggest the north Queensland highlands should be regarded as a distinct rock art province, separate from the Central Queensland Province. Evidence is also presented to suggest that open social networks with limited territoriality were operating in the study area through at least the late Holocene.