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Australia was settled about
60,000 years ago by the
ancestors of the Aborigines
via a land bridge from New
Guinea. Rock paintings form
an important part of the
culture of the Aborigines.
There are magnificent
paintings in the Kimberley
region, particularly
Wandjina images. These
have little stylistic
connection to the Bradshaw
figures, though, and have
been dated at roughly 5,000
years of age. The Aborigines
themselves have ascribed a
mystical creation story to
the Bradshaw figures. This
raises the question of who
created these figures. The
current discussion of this
question is based largely
upon a stylistic comparison
with other rock paintings.
There is a noticeable
similarity between these
figures and rock paintings in
Africa where the depiction
of human figures and their
attributes is concerned.
Based upon this similarity,
it is conceivable that
emigrants from Africa might
have reached Kimberley
region by boat and settled
the area roughly 70,000
years ago. The rising sea
level and competition
with inland populations
expanding towards the
coast could have destroyed
this civilisation roughly 10-
20,000 years ago.
Wandjina Figuren
Namibia
Kimberley
Kimberley
Algerien, Tassili
Kimberley
Namibia
Namibia