The Queensland Museum Expedition to Ngiangu (Booby Island): Rock art, archaeology and inter-regional interaction in South-Western Torres Strait

In 1985 and 1990 a Queensland Museum research team visited the island of Ngiangu (Booby Island) to carry out investigations into the island’s Indigenous and non-Indigenous archaeology. Forming the western boundary of Kaurareg traditional country, this small rocky island is an integral part of Kaurareg identity, and is well-known in maritime archaeology circles as a haven for European mariners shipwrecked while transiting the Strait. The research team, led by the late Ron Coleman, undertook rock art recording (including European historical writing), limited archaeological excavations, geological research and collected material culture objects from numerous shoreline caves. This paper reports on the archaeological outcomes of this project and reassesses earlier interpretations of the rock art record in the context of inter-regional interaction. The results indicate that cultural markers associated with the island reflect a local Kaurareg identity, as well as broader regional interaction with neighbouring Torres Strait Islander and Cape York Aboriginal groups.

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Rock art and inter-regional interaction in northeastern Australian prehistory

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00078881 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 64 (245) ◽

pp. 788-806 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Bruno David ◽

Noelene Cole

Keyword(s):

Rock Art ◽

Regional Pattern ◽

Exchange Networks ◽

Regional Interaction ◽

Cape York

The Cape York peninsula, in tropical Queensland, shows distinct regional pattern in its recent rock art. And there is regional pattern also in the exchange networks of ethnohistorical times. Do these patterns bear a relationship?

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‘Canoe traffic’ of the Torres Strait and Fly Estuary

10.33134/hup-12-12 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 184-201

Author(s):

David Russell Lawrence

Keyword(s):

Coastal Region ◽

Point Of View ◽

Economic Point ◽

Fictive Kinship ◽

Cape York ◽

Torres Strait ◽

Aboriginal Groups ◽

Diverse Groups ◽

Kinship Ties ◽

Patterns Of Interaction

This paper concentrates on the material aspects of the interaction between Torres Strait Islanders and the Papuan peoples of the Fly estuary and the southwest coastal region of Papua New Guinea. In spite of the differences in ecology, habitation history and subsistence practices, or perhaps because of them, interaction between peoples of the region has a long history. Such patterns of interaction between linguistic and culturally diverse groups of peoples is well known in the Melanesian region. Historically, one of the most important cultural links between Papuans and Islanders has been regular and sustained contact maintained by voyages in large ocean-going canoes. The interesting aspect of this relationship from an economic point of view has been not only the exchange by canoes, that is, using canoes as a means of exchange, but also exchange in canoes, where the canoe itself has been the principal object of exchange. Exchange relations between Torres Strait Islanders, coastal Papuans and Australian Aboriginal groups at Cape York were facilitated by means of a sophisticated maritime technology and operated within the confines of well established real and fictive kinship ties.

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Singa Transitional: Rock-art Saywas Marking Boundaries of Identity and Socializing Landscape in Huánuco, Peru

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s0959774320000451 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 247-263

Author(s):

Jonathan J. Dubois

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Rock Art ◽

Social Changes ◽

Regional Survey ◽

Intermediate Period ◽

Social Trends ◽

The North ◽

The Andes ◽

Early Horizon ◽

Landscape Feature

This paper introduces a new art style, Singa Transitional, found painted onto a mountainside near the modern town of Singa in the north of Huánuco, Peru. This style was discovered during a recent regional survey of rock art in the Huánuco region that resulted in the documentation of paintings at more than 20 sites, the identification of their chronological contexts and an analysis of the resulting data for trends in changing social practices over nine millennia. I explore how the style emerged from both regional artistic trends in the medium and broader patterns evident in Andean material culture from multiple media at the time of its creation. I argue that the presence of Singa Transitional demonstrates that local peoples were engaged in broader social trends unfolding during the transition between the Early Horizon (800–200 bc) and the Early Intermediate Period (ad 0–800) in Peru. I propose that rock art placed in prominent places was considered saywa, a type of landscape feature that marked boundaries in and movement through landscapes. Singa Transitional saywas served to advertise the connection between local Andean people and their land and was a medium through which social changes were contested in the Andes.

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Unsustainable harvest of dugongs in Torres Strait and Cape York (Australia) waters: two case studies using population viability analysis

Animal Conservation ◽

10.1017/s1367943004001593 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. 417-425 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Robert Heinsohn ◽

Robert C. Lacy ◽

David B. Lindenmayer ◽

Helene Marsh ◽

Donna Kwan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Case Studies ◽

Population Viability Analysis ◽

Population Viability ◽

Viability Analysis ◽

Cape York ◽

Torres Strait

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Mainland magic: Interpreting cultural influences across Cape York–Torres Strait

Quaternary International ◽

10.1016/j.quaint.2014.12.021 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 385 ◽

pp. 69-78 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Shelley Greer ◽

Rosita Henry ◽

Susan McIntyre-Tamwoy

Keyword(s):

Cultural Influences ◽

Cape York ◽

Torres Strait

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Cape York Aborigines: Fringe Participants in the Torres Strait Trading System

Mankind ◽

10.1111/j.1835-9310.1978.tb00662.x ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 319-325

Author(s):

DAVID R. MOORE

Keyword(s):

Trading System ◽

Cape York ◽

Torres Strait

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Early Australian Anthropomorphs: Jabiluka's Dynamic Figure Rock Paintings

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s095977431700052x ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 67-83 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Sally K. May ◽

Iain G. Johnston ◽

Paul S.C. Taçon ◽

Inés Domingo Sanz ◽

Joakim Goldhahn

Keyword(s):

Material Culture ◽

Cultural Practices ◽

Rock Art ◽

Figurative Art ◽

The World ◽

Rock Paintings ◽

Body Adornment ◽

Art And Society ◽

Detailed Nature ◽

Sheer Number

Early depictions of anthropomorphs in rock art provide unique insights into life during the deep past. This includes human engagements with the environment, socio-cultural practices, gender and uses of material culture. In Australia, the Dynamic Figure rock paintings of Arnhem Land are recognized as the earliest style in the region where humans are explicitly depicted. Important questions, such as the nature and significance of body adornment in rock art and society, can be explored, given the detailed nature of the human figurative art and the sheer number of scenes depicted. In this paper, we make a case for Dynamic Figure rock art having some of the earliest and most extensive depictions of complex anthropomorph scenes found anywhere in the world.

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GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATION IN TORRES STRAIT

The APPEA Journal ◽

10.1071/aj64032 ◽

1965 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 188

Author(s):

E. W. Vind ◽

C. R. Harwood

Keyword(s):

Seismic Survey ◽

Survey Area ◽

The South ◽

North East ◽

The North ◽

Geophysical Surveys ◽

Arafura Sea ◽

Cape York ◽

Torres Strait ◽

Marine Seismic

Torres Strait is the narrow waterway on the Continental Shelf which connects the Arafura Sea to the Coral Sea and separates the Cape York Peninsula from South-western Papua. Within Torres Strait and the Arafura Sea the marine seismic survey area specifically discussed here covers the north-western part of Authority to Prospect 104P held by Marathon Petroleum Australia Ltd. Except for a few small islands this area is covered by a shallow tropical sea not more than 160 feet deep which is studded with coral reefs.Four regional structural features influence the area. These are the Cape York-Oriomo Ridge to the east, the Carpentaria Basin to the south and the Morehead and Papuan Basins to the north. These features are indicated by regional geology and have been confirmed by the combined interpretations of reconnaissance geophysical surveys conducted by various exploration organisations during the past 30 years.The A.T.P. 104P (West) Marine Seismic Survey, consisting of 618 miles of subsurface coverage, was carried out for Marathon between November 8 and November 28, 1964.Several operational problems prevented completion of the survey as originally planned. Shallow water and reefing prevented shooting in the north-east portion of the proposed area.Shooting 300 per cent subsurface coverage commenced in the south-eastern part of the survey area, but, due to shallow basement at less than one second, multiple coverage was not feasible. Production shooting which gave 100 per cent subsurface coverage on the short spreads was continued throughout the remainder of the survey.Two reflection horizons and a resultant isochron were mapped in the area. A "deep" reflector is interpreted as originating from granitic basement, while a "shallow" reflector is tentatively correlated with a horizon in the Cretaceous section.The "shallow" horizon mapped is essentially conformable with the "deep" horizon. Both show a regional west dip with thinning of section to the east. Some north and south components of the regional west dip are established. The resultant isochron comparisons based on this work appear too limited in scope to establish any definite local structural control of deposition.

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