Australia: The Land Where Time Began

A biography of the Australian continent 

The Cleland Hills are a low hills composed of sandstone, that has been dated to the Devonian, that outcrops in a dunefield 75 km west from the main MacDonnell Ranges.

At Cleland Hills, 320 km west of Alice Springs, pecked motifs of what appear to be human faces have been found. The rock on which the petroglyphs were made are heavily weathered, suggesting great age. Nearby is the Puritjarra occupation site which has been dated to 22,000 years ago. In the Pilbara similar faces have been found, also on weathered rock. 16 faces have been found at Cleland Hills, all being 10-20 cm wide and 30 cm long. They tend to be heart-shaped, and have eyes, a nose and a mouth, one also having a body and 2 legs, as well as 2 wing-like arms.

Only small fractions of the Cleland Hills designs are 'faces', the majority being tracks, 50 %, and circles, 33 %.

See Art - Archaic Faces Panaramitee Tradition

Sources & Further reading

1. Flood, Josephine, 2004, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, JB Publications. 
2. M.A. Smith in Murray, Tim, 1998, Archaeology of Aboriginal Australia, Allen & Unwin.

Links

1. Cleland Hills and Surrounds

2. Desert peoples: archaeological perspectives

3. ABORIGINAL HISTORY MONOGRAPH SERIES