Imagery and social structure at two Dalabon rock art sites

Maddock, Kenneth

doi:10.1080/00664677.1970.9967246

Cited by 109 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The Jawoyn also more frequently emphasise the Ancestral Being Bula, rather than the Rainbow Serpent, as the most significant and powerful force in their region (Cooper 1992;Gunn 1992) and their belief and artistic systems have many similarities with those of peoples further southwest, such as the Wardaman, and to the east, such as the Dalabon (Maddock 1970). Sometimes Bula is associated with a dangerous form of the Rainbow Serpent, Bolung (Gunn 1992:176).…”

Section: Discussion: Fish and Macropod Regionalism In The Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regionalism in the recent rock art of western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory

Taçon

1993

Archaeology in Oceania

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For at least a thousand years various areas within western Arnhem Land have been 'associated with a relative abundance of freshwater food resources. Aboriginal groups were thus able to subsist within the confines of territories that are much smaller than in many other parts of the Australian continent. As a consequence, the first Europeans to visit the area observed numerous regional language boundaries, many of which were associated with particular bands, clans and/or families. My recent research has found a strong correlation between forms and sub-styles of recent rock paintings, linguistics and mythology associated with Ancestral Beings, the landscape and events of the past. This relationship adds a new dimension to interpreting the prehistory of the region. I outline many of the most significant trends in the rock art body and then rock paintings and myths are examined to throw light on major events of the prehistoric record that are further removed in time. I conclude that there are implications for other areas of Australia.

show abstract

Section: Discussion: Fish and Macropod Regionalism In The Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regionalism in the recent rock art of western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory

Taçon

1993

Archaeology in Oceania

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…104 Berndt and Berndt (1970:20), Hiatt (1971), Maddock (1970), Taylor (1990) and others have noted that both Rainbow Snakes are androgynous or bi-sexual to some extent; androgyny features in Rainbow Serpent mythology throughout Arnhem Land. Taylor (1990:331) has also described the different ways in which they are said to have created landscapes.…”

Section: Contemporary Kunwinjku Conceptionsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…In this sense, they are shown 'above' the Serpents. One notable Modern exception is an image over 5 metres in length from southern Arnhem Land published by Maddock (1970) and not included in our study, a Rainbow Serpent with a row of flying foxes hanging down from its 'belly'. At other sites, flying foxes shown next to Rainbow Serpents invariably are portrayed upside-down.…”

Section: Gulinj Flying Foxes and Rainbow Serpentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Birth of the Rainbow Serpent in Arnhem Land rock art and oral history

Taçon

Wilson

Chippindale

1996

Archaeology in Oceania

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Rainbow Serpent is agreed to be one of the most powerful, all consuming and widespread Ancestral Beings of Aboriginal Australia. It pervades not only oral history but also ceremony, performance and visual art, and is associated with great acts of creation and destruction. Although Rainbow Serpent imagery varies, its supernatural nature is usually emphasised by its form, often through the incorporation of attributes derived from a variety of natural creatures. Rock paintings of the Being are scattered across the continent but a particularly large sample can be found in western Arnhem Land. We analyse 107 of these in detail and note variation across both time and space through the use of multivariate statistical techniques. We hypothesise about the origins of the oldest images and compare key elements of Rainbow Serpent stories to those of 'Yam Style' Rainbow Serpents, reputed to be 4000-6000 years of age. It is our contention that an archaeological context for many of the more significant aspects of Rainbow Serpent oral history can be found over several millennia.

show abstract

“…I am concerned specifically with the visual imagery employed in contemporary bark paintings produced for the market, yet I do intend to suggest why such imagery is gaining increasing popularity both among Kunwinjku and Aboriginal groups further afield. Other writers have explored aspects of rainbow imagery in rock paintings of the western Arnhem Land area (Maddock 1970;Brandl 1973;Tacon 1988), and Hiatt (1971Hiatt ( , 1975 in particular has cogently elucidated aspects of rainbow serpent symbolism for Arnhem Land in general. Hiatt (1971Hiatt ( ,1975 dwells on the powerful psychological underpinnings of rainbow serpent mythology and its relation to the metaphors of swallowing and regurgitation developed in the major Arnhem Land initiatory rituals, particularly Kunabibi.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rainbow Serpent as Visual Metaphor in Western Arnhem Land

Taylor

1990

Oceania

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Imagery and social structure at two Dalabon rock art sites

Cited by 109 publications

References 9 publications

Regionalism in the recent rock art of western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory

Regionalism in the recent rock art of western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory

Birth of the Rainbow Serpent in Arnhem Land rock art and oral history

The Rainbow Serpent as Visual Metaphor in Western Arnhem Land

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About