From Toulouse to Sidney - an exchange for deeper understanding of rock art

Text by Marie Descottes, University of Toulouse

In the OCSEAN projects theme to better understand the human demographic and cultural processes in the Oceania I spend two months (June to August 2025) in Australia, hosted by Tristen Jones at the University of Sydney (USYD). This secondment was a major opportunity to advance my doctoral research of rock art.

As was part of the knowledge exchange I gave two presentations on my thesis work (fig.1) at two universities: Australian National University in Canberra on 1 August 2025 and USYD on 14 August 2025. This was to give an introduction to European Upper Paleolithic art to archaeology students at the University of Sydney on 18 August 2025, as part of the ARCO1002: Ancient Worlds, Modern Lives.

Fig.1 Title slide for the presentations given in University of Sidney and Australian National University as part of OCSEAN knowledge exchange

Several visits to rock art sites were organized, particularly in the Sydney Basin (Jibbon rock art site) with Tristen Jones and in the Blue Mountains with Wayne Brennan, rock art specialist, and First Nation mentor in archaeology, who is particularly familiar with this area.

I also participated in a rock art survey in Arnhem Land (Northern Territory) with Tristen Jones from 4 to 8 August 2025, which consisted of surveying and recording/mapping rock art sites with Aboriginal traditional leaders and rangers (fig.2). This fieldwork provided a valuable opportunity to explore the unique graphic production of Arnhem Land and to engage in discussions with the traditional owners. 

The Arnhem Land region is home to one of the world's most significant rock art assemblages due to its long tradition of rock art. Different graphic traditions, produced in different periods, sometimes coexist in the same site (Fig. 3). The superposition of designs and styles, as well as radiocarbon dating, help us to better understand this sequence (Jones, 2017).

Fig.2. Research team and traditionnal owners

Fig. 3. Assemblage with superposition (J. Bonger)

One of the most famous types of rock art in Australia is the X-ray figure, which was produced from around 3,000 years ago until the 1960s. These are characterized by the depiction of organs and bones, primarily of fish and macropods (Fig. 4). Before 3000 BP, rock art was characterized by the depiction of large, naturalistic mammals and anthropomorphic figures; the Northern Running Figures are an example (Fig. 5).

Fig. 4. X-ray fish. (P. Taçon)

Fig.5. Northern running figures (T. Jones)

I also attended various meetings with Australian researchers in Sydney and Canberra. This fieldwork and these meetings provided a deeper understanding of the Australian art corpus and its theoretical frameworks, which I included in the first chapter of my thesis. Further collaboration with Australian partners extending  from this secondment, notably the invitation for Tristen Jones to participate in an art seminar at the University of Toulouse (TRACES laboratory) next spring.