GUIDED TOUR - SANDY CREEK ROCK ART

Sandy Creek Rock Art

Large rock shelter at the head of a tributary of the Little Laura River, was excavated by Morwood et al. (1995). The excavation revealed evidence of Aboriginal 668 Method Noelene Cole & Alan Watchman. Possum B engravings including engraved cupules (pits) and a radiating form occupation from at least 34 400 BP.

In an adjacent shelter, Sandy Creek, Watchman (1993a) dated oxalate laminations in association with red paint particles in a micro-excavated sample of crust from the rear wall. Watchman interpreted the dates for these laminations as evidence of periodic painting from 25 000 years ago.

Rock art at Sandy Creek includes wall and ceiling paintings, engravings on boulders and shallow engravings on a lower wall which were uncovered in an excavation in the 1960s. The most striking engraving is a deeply incised design on the outer face of a prominent rock fall which lies several metres south of the excavated area. The design was described by Flood (1987) as ‘enclosures and pits’, similar to the rounded enclosure with grid engravings at Green Ant (Koolburra) and Early Man. 

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