Research of the ships and boats depicted in rock art, along with associated technologies, has revealed a deep and enduring engagement between Indigenous peoples and maritime visitors to Arnhem Land. Recent research has identified rare images in western Arnhem Land rock art of Moluccan fighting ships originating from Indonesia’s eastern islands that may provide the first archaeological evidence of visitors from Southeast Asia from somewhere other than Makassar, Sulawesi. These two rock art motifs offer new evidence of elusive and previously unrecorded encounters between Indigenous people in Arnhem Land and mariners from the Moluccas to the north of Australia. As well as their distinctive shape and configuration, both boats appear to display triangular flags, pennants, and prow adornments indicating their martial or ceremonial status. Comparing these two depictions with historically recorded watercraft from Island Southeast Asia shows that they probably came from eastern Maluku Tenggara in Indonesia. This research highlights the importance for ongoing research and investigation of maritime rock art motifs in northern Australia. Pursuing accurate identification through comparisons like this supported by archival research enables interpretations that tell of the engagement between Indigenous communities and maritime visitors and economies. In this seminar we will discuss this ongoing research and approaches to researching maritime motifs and technologies through several case studies from the Indigenous rock art record of Arnhem Land.

Presenters: Mick de Ruyter, Daryl Wesley and Wendy van Duivenvoorde (Flinders University)

Friday 18 August 2023 (1-2pm AEST) | Townsville 134-105, Cairns D3-003
https://jcu.zoom.us/j/87087979927?pwd=TTFEaDBQTVZrb24zYXJjWGZLSXpaZz09