Early Man in North Queensland : art and archaeology in the Laura area

Abstract

Not until the discovery in 1896 of decorated galleries sealed behind the archaeological deposit at the site of La Mouthe in southwest France did the antiquity, indeed the authenticity, of Palaeolithic cave art in Europe begin to be accepted. The Early Man rockshelter near Laura, north Queensland , whose investigation is the subject of the present monograph, has something of the same importance for rock art studies in Australia, since excavation there in 1974 decisively demonstrated the high antiquity of rock engraving on the continent, previously argued on a number of indirect and not fully convincing lines of evidence. More than this, it became possible as a result of the investigations to begin to define an early engraving style with features widespread through the continent as well as a sequence of styles of more local significance.