Iconography in Bradshawb rock art: breaking the circularity
Clinical and Experimental Optometry August 31, 2011 Jack Pettigrew 22 citations
Interpreting rock art from extinct cultures is challenging because both the symbols and the culture are known from the same source. This work breaks that circularity for the Bradshaw rock art of the Kimberley region in Australia by comparing it with Sandawe rock art from Tanzania and Khoisan art. Shared symbols, such as the 'mushroom head' representing psilocybin use, link the two cultures and suggest they were shamanistic, allowing many features to be understood as trance visualisations. Additional links include a special affinity for small mammals. Early Bradshaw art contains many references to baobabs, later absent, explained by the Toba super-volcano, human transport of baobabs to the Kimberley, and the baobab's utility. Many more symbols may be interpretable using this approach.