Pictures of women: The Social Context of Australian Rock Art Production

Abstract

Human depictions-anthropomorphs-are a prevalent theme in most Australian rock art provinces. They appear in figurative assemblages with varying amounts of detail and decoration. They are also present in older engraved assemblages, where they are represented mostly by tracks and other iconography. Pictures of women, however, vary markedly in the ways they are depicted and in their centrality to rock art assemblages. This chapter explores the question: who created rock art in Australia? It also asks: what do depictions of women in rock art and the social context of production tell us about the role that rock art may have played in prehistoric information exchange and social messaging?