Artists - Part 59

 Australian Aboriginal Art

People first migrated to Australia 65,000 years ago.  Above is a cave painting in Arnhem Land in Northern Australia that has been radiocarbon dated as 28,000 years old.  To give you some context, the Stone Age cave paintings in Lascaux, France are 17,000 years old, and civilization in Mesopotamia and Egypt arose around 5000 years ago (the Pyramids of Egypt are about 4500 years old).  So this art is old!

And what does this ancient art depict?  Two people fucking.  Some subjects of interest haven't changed in 28,000 years.

This cave art, also in Arnhem Land, is between 6,000 and 10,000 years old.  It depicts two figures easily identified as men by their penises.

Another rock painting features a very prominent erect penis.

This rock art figure in Kakadu National Park, Northern Australia, is painted in what has been called the X-ray style, showing bones and ribs in addition to external features like his penis.  It is said to represent Nabulwinjbulwinj, a spirit who eats females after killing them by striking them with a yam.

The rock art around Sydney in southeastern Australia is quite different.  These are carved figures, not painted, of a man and a woman, dating back 5,000 to 7,000 years.

More rock art from Terrey Hills in northern Sydney shows a kangaroo and a figure who is either a well-endowed man or perhaps the creator god Baiame.   

We end with much more recent rock art, a painting showing another figure with a prominent penis, plus a white man on a horse at left, and another horse at right.  It must have been made after Europeans and horses came to Australia in the 1700s.