Deception Creek: An Architectural Petroglyph Site in South Australia

Abstract

The "turn to landscape" in recent archaeological studies supports an approach to petroglyph images as functioning to define and enhance features of the rock formations that support them. This is seen at Red Gorge in the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia, where human adaptation of the naturally-built environment discloses proto-architectural attributes of cliffs on Deception Creek. In a particular instance, focus on the placement of images on specific surfaces (the walls and floor of a passageway) opens the question of what it is we might call a site. The discussion of "Panaramitee" claims is relevant to current inquiry into Australian Pleistocene art. Show more