Article published in:
Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country
Edited by Jean-Christophe Verstraete and Diane Hafner
[Culture and Language Use 18] 2016
► pp. 61–84

Regions without borders

Related rock art landscapes of the Laura Basin, Cape York Peninsula

| James Cook University

Aboriginal rock art occurs throughout the lands of the Laura Sandstone Basin from Princess Charlotte Bay to the Great Dividing Range, in an ordered continuum of styles. Archaeologists attribute this varied spatial distribution to an Australia-wide trend of cultural differentiation which occurred from mid-to-late Holocene times. Given the links between Aboriginal rock art, cultural identity, land and social systems and the long history and intricate nature of Aboriginal-land relationships in Cape York Peninsula, such variability is predictable. However, there are also underlying strands of homogeneity and relatedness. This study identifies, and attempts to account for, some of the discontinuous and continuous spatial trends in Laura Basin rock art in their natural and cultural contexts, in order to shed light on the origins and role of rock art style in south eastern and south central Cape York Peninsula.

Published online: 18 February 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.18.04col
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