The origin, evolution and life cycle of rock art shelters in the Kimberley Basin of NW Australia

Abstract

The Paleoproterozoic Warton and Wunaamin Miliwundi Sandstones in the Kimberley Basin of NW Australia contain an abundance of rock shelters hosting a striking succession of rock paintings of immense cultural and archaeological significance. The evolution of these shelters has not previously been studied in detail, yet provides the ultimate control on the long-term survival of rock art within them. The rock shelters develop initially on near-vertical sides of remnant sandstone blocks on an etched landscape exhumed from a formerly pervasive deep lateritic weathering zone of probable Neogene age. The two nearly flat-lying sandstone formations are highly cemented orthoquartzites characterized by ..