Kulpi Mutitjulu Rock Art . . .
This image is included in a gallery "Natural Rock Art" curated by Ardan.
This was captured near Mutitjulu Waterhole, Uluru.
The rock art around Uluru is evidence of how cultural knowledge and Tjukurpa stories have been passed from generation to generation. It is extremely difficult to accurately date the rock art at Uluru. Carbon dating can only pick up the age of the rock and the materials used for the pigments, rather than the paintings themselves. However, Anangu people are believed to have lived in the Uluru region for at least 30,000 years. The rock art is an important historical and scientific record of human occupation in this area.
The park’s rock art sites have many layers of pictures, symbols and figures painted on top of each other. This is because the same sites have been used in Anangu education for tens of thousands of years.
Anangu traditionally made their paints from natural minerals and ash. The dry materials were placed on flat stones, crushed and mixed with kapi (water) or animal fat. The most common paint colours are red, yellow, orange, white, grey and black. These colours come from a variety of materials. Tutu (red ochre) and untanu (yellow ochre) are iron-stained clays that were very valuable and traded across the land. Burnt kurkara (desert oak) provides both purku (black charcoal) and tjunpa/unu (white ash).
The Mutitjulu Cave has many examples of concentric circles, which can represent a waterhole, a campsite or a place of significance. Multiple concentric circles linked by lines may represent a journey. (from Kulpi Mutitjulu website)
Kulpi Mutitjulu Rock Art . . .
This image is included in a gallery "Natural Rock Art" curated by Ardan.
This was captured near Mutitjulu Waterhole, Uluru.
The rock art around Uluru is evidence of how cultural knowledge and Tjukurpa stories have been passed from generation to generation. It is extremely difficult to accurately date the rock art at Uluru. Carbon dating can only pick up the age of the rock and the materials used for the pigments, rather than the paintings themselves. However, Anangu people are believed to have lived in the Uluru region for at least 30,000 years. The rock art is an important historical and scientific record of human occupation in this area.
The park’s rock art sites have many layers of pictures, symbols and figures painted on top of each other. This is because the same sites have been used in Anangu education for tens of thousands of years.
Anangu traditionally made their paints from natural minerals and ash. The dry materials were placed on flat stones, crushed and mixed with kapi (water) or animal fat. The most common paint colours are red, yellow, orange, white, grey and black. These colours come from a variety of materials. Tutu (red ochre) and untanu (yellow ochre) are iron-stained clays that were very valuable and traded across the land. Burnt kurkara (desert oak) provides both purku (black charcoal) and tjunpa/unu (white ash).
The Mutitjulu Cave has many examples of concentric circles, which can represent a waterhole, a campsite or a place of significance. Multiple concentric circles linked by lines may represent a journey. (from Kulpi Mutitjulu website)