15 000-year-old rock art found

2003-12-05 11:29

Canberra - Crude hand images stencilled onto the wall of a cave by Aborigines 15 000 years ago have been discovered in a wilderness area of Tasmania state, government officials and Aboriginal groups said on Friday.

The rare ceremonial art was discovered in November last year by state forestry workers surveying the area on the edge of a World Heritage listed wilderness region of the island state, the Tasmanian forestry department said.

Authorities did not initially publicise the find to protect the ancient works from unwanted visitors. They still refuse to reveal the exact location.

"It is an extremely sensitive and fragile site," said Brian Mansell, head of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Land Council. "We have kept the location secret mainly because it is too accessible."

Mansell said the hand prints were probably a form of ceremonial art and their discovery was an important find for understanding ancient Aboriginal culture.

"Given that it is a recent find and pretty close to rural and metropolitan areas, there's nothing to say we won't find more," he said.

Two other caves, Ballawinnie and Wargata Mina, in the same World Heritage area, also contain ancient Aboriginal art.

Kim Creak from the forestry department said the stencilled hand images on bare rock in red ochre colouring are thought to be around 15 000 years old.

He said his department has agreed to protect the immediate area from logging.

Anthropologists believe Aborigines first came to Australia between 40 000 and 60 000 years ago. They now make up just 400 000 of Australia's 20 million mainly white population.

- AP