The artwork shows vessels which could pre-date the arrival of Dutch explorers in the 17th century. During a 10-day expedition, led by Australian scientist Ian McIntosh, the Aboriginal artwork was unearthed
During the 10-day expedition, led by Australian scientist Ian McIntosh, the team unearthed rare indigenous rock art of ancient ships and sailors that could depict the first seafarers to reach Australian shores. It could predate the arrival of Dutch explorers in the 17th century.
McIntosh, currently Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University in the US, took a team to the Wessel Islands, an uninhabited group of islands off Australia’s north coast, when troops were stationed there during World War II, after an extraordinary finding.
Five 1000-year-old copper coins were discovered, believed to have originated in Africa. McIntosh said they were first discovered buried beneath the sand by soldier Maurie Isenberg, while fishing when stationed on one of the islands in 1944.
He didn’t have a clue where they came from but pocketed them before putting them in a tin and forgetting about them for 35 years.
In 1979 he rediscovered them and sent the coins to a museum for identification, along with an old map showing an “X” where he found them.
Professor McIntosh’s team used that map to find the location of the coin discovery. His team had to crawl partly on their backs through thick bush to discover several caves filled with the Aboriginal rock paintings.
“We combed every square metre,” Professor McIntosh said. Among whales, snakes and fish, the ancient but as yet un-dated art shows white men with long pants and guns, ships of different sizes with sails and rigging that were used in different periods of seafaring.
The rock paintings, together with the five coins from the ancient African kingdom of Kilwa, have led to speculation that the northern parts of Australia may have been visited by European, Arabian, African and Indonesian seafarers before 1606 – when Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon became the first known European to reach Australian shores, followed a few years later by compatriot Dirk Hartog.
The expedition also found a piece of timber which may have passed as driftwood but is believed to be a piece of deck support for an old sailing ship.
Despite not yet being dated it could support the theory of a shipwreck from where the coins might have washed ashore.
The coins could be from an Arab ship as “they found another Arab shipwreck off Sumatra 10 years ago,” the group’s geomorphologist Tim Stone said.
“Or from a Portuguese ship, as it is possible that they were making contact with Aborigines in the north and must have had Kilwa coins in their possession after destroying the African kingdom in the 1500s.”
The artwork shows vessels which could pre-date the arrival of Dutch explorers in the 17th century. During a 10-day expedition, led by Australian scientist Ian McIntosh, the Aboriginal artwork was unearthed rare indigenous rock art of ancient ships and sailors that could depict the first seafarers to reach Australian shores.
It could predate the arrival of Dutch explorers in the 17th century. McIntosh, currently Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University in the US, took a team to the Wessel Islands, an uninhabited group of islands off Australia’s north coast, when troops were stationed there during World War II, after an extraordinary finding.
Five 1000-year-old copper coins were discovered, believed to have originated in Africa. McIntosh said they were first discovered buried beneath the sand by soldier Maurie Isenberg, while fishing when stationed on one of the islands in 1944.
He didn’t have a clue where they came from but pocketed them before putting them in a tin and forgetting about them for 35 years. In 1979 he rediscovered them and sent the coins to a museum for identification, along with an old map showing an “X” where he found them.
Professor McIntosh’s team used that map to find the location of the coin discovery. His team had to crawl partly on their backs through thick bush to discover several caves filled with the Aboriginal rock paintings.“We combed every square metre,” Professor McIntosh said.
Among whales, snakes and fish, the ancient but as yet un-dated art shows white men with long pants and guns, ships of different sizes with sails and rigging that were used in different periods of seafaring.
The rock paintings, together with the five coins from the ancient African kingdom of Kilwa, have led to speculation that the northern parts of Australia may have been visited by European, Arabian, African and Indonesian seafarers before 1606 – when Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon became the first known European to reach Australian shores, followed a few years later by compatriot Dirk Hartog.
The expedition also found a piece of timber which may have passed as driftwood but is believed to be a piece of deck support for an old sailing ship. Despite not yet being dated it could support the theory of a shipwreck from where the coins might have washed ashore.
The coins could be from an Arab ship as “they found another Arab shipwreck off Sumatra 10 years ago,” the group’s geomorphologist Tim Stone said.
“Or from a Portuguese ship, as it is possible that they were making contact with Aborigines in the north and must have had Kilwa coins in their possession after destroying the African kingdom in the 1500s.”
Image via Getty
