There are several re a so n s for suggesting th a t th ese paintings m ay p re d a te th e b u lk of V ictoria River p ain ted a rt. Individually each re a s o n is w eak a n d inconclusive; com bined, th e y are highly su g g e stiv e th a t th e p a in tin g s a re su rv iv a ls from a n e a rlie r trad itio n .
The p rim ary re a so n for su g g estin g th a t a t le a st som e of th e se p ain tin g s m ay belong to an earlier tim e period is th e ir content. In a p rev io u s p a p e r I n o te d th e p o ssib le te m p o ra l c o n c u rre n c e betw een 'g rass' p rin ts a n d ’th ro w n object' p rin ts in th e V ictoria River d istric t a n d sim ilar m otifs in A rnhem Land (Lewis 1984: 60). I also noted th a t th e p ain tin g te c h n iq u e of som e V ictoria River m otifs - fine line b ru s h strokes as opposed to applying p ain t by h a n d - also differentiates them from V ictoria River paintings in general. T hese ob serv atio n s hold for m u c h of th e a rt described above.
A m ore com pelling a rg u m e n t co n c ern s p a in tin g s a t two of th e sites in th e W est B ain es c a tch m en t an d a t one site in K ajerong co u n try . At each of th e se sites th e re are p a in tin g s of a n im a l h e a d ed b ein g s w ith 'strin g s', w hich, on th e b a s is of id en tical colour used, are asso ciated w ith p la n ts th a t have tu b e rs or bu lb s. T his asso ciatio n o cc u rs in th e b la ck pigm ent a rt as well as the red pigm ent art, b u t does n o t exist am ong re c e n t p ain tin g s. In fact, d ep ic tio n s of a n im a l-h e a d e d b e in g s a re extrem ely ra re
am ong re c e n t V ictoria River p a in tin g s an d none of th em have 'strin g s' a tta c h e d . D epictions of w h a t a p p e a r to be p la n ts w ith b u lb s or tu b e rs are n o n -ex isten t in recent Victoria River art. One m otif th a t ap p e a rs to re p re se n t a flowering p la n t is located a t a W a rd a m an site in th e F lora River c a tc h m e n t (Figure 16). It is p a in te d in w hite lines a p p a re n tly su p e rim p o se d on tra c e s of black pigm ent, and ap p e ars to be quite recent.
A n o th er re a s o n is th e ir condition. All of th e p a in tin g s exhibit fe a tu re s c o n s is te n t w ith age. For exam ple, all have se ctio n s com pletely faded an d none have pigm ents forming a surface layer on th e rockface. The red p a in tin g s, especially, a p p e a r to be b o n d ed to th e rock. In ad d itio n , m an y of th e exam ples from Kajerong c o u n try are affected by th e b u ild -u p of a n unidentified w hite m ineral.
The th re e e c h id n a s in b la ck p ig m en t th a t have b een severely ab rad e d are p ain ted in side view perspective. T his is unlike any o th e r p ain tin g (or engraving) of a n ech id n a in th e V ictoria River valley a lth o u g h I have se en one re c e n t exam ple from th e Keep River valley to the w est (Plate 32). It is possible th a t in an earlier p erio d th e a rtis tic c o n v e n tio n s gov ern in g p e rsp e c tiv e w ere b ro a d e r th a n a t p re se n t an d th a t th e se ech id n a re p re se n ta tio n s are exam ples of this.
The colour of som e of the m otifs m ay also have a b earin g on the q u estio n of chronology. M any of th e motifs being considered here are red. E vidence from b o th th e K im berley a n d A rnhem la n d s u g g e s ts t h a t red o ch re is th e m o st lo n g -la s tin g p ig m en t. F u rth erm o re, in his stu d y of X -ray p ain tin g s in w estern A rnhem L and, T acon (1987: 45) found th a t a b o u t 85% of early X -ray m otifs were d a rk red in colour. This is in c o n tra st w ith recen t X- ray a rt w here th e red pigm ents u se d are often quite b rig h t (pers. obs.), a n d su g g e sts th a t w ith age, m a n y red pig m en ts te n d to d a rk e n . In c o n tra s t w ith red p ig m e n ts se en in m o st V ictoria River p ain tin g s, th e p ain tin g s of an im al-h ead ed beings, h u m a n s, a n d ’p la n ts w ith b u lb s or tu b e rs' in th e K ajerong site are very d a rk red. T he o th er m otifs in q u estio n are eith er faded red or black.
N one of th e old p a in tin g s in th e K ajerong s ite s a re in su p erim position w ith any o th er a rt so th e ir relatio n sh ip to recent a r t in th e a re a ca n n o t be determ ined by a s se ss m e n t of p ain tin g se q u e n c e . A n u m b e r of th e old red an d b la c k m otifs in th e N garin m an site s are in su p e rim p o sitio n w ith o th e r w ea th ered red motifs, b u t it h a s not been possible to estab lish th e sequence of th ese paintings w ith any certainty.
Two of th e black paintings in one gallery have been superim posed by re c e n t m otifs. One, an anim al-h ead ed being, is superim posed by a p a in tin g of a bovine (Plate 33). P ain tin g s of E u ro p e a n liv esto ck clearly d ate from th e p a s t one h u n d re d y ears; th is in s ta n c e of su p erim p o sitio n in g reveals little a b o u t th e tem poral re la tio n s h ip of th e two p a in tin g s o th e r th a n th a t th e b la c k p a in tin g precedes w h a t is obviously a very re c e n t pain tin g . The o th e r b lack m otif - a n unidentified object p artly su rro u n d e d by 'strin g s' - is su p erim p o sed by the leg of an elaborately decorated fem ale figure h o ld in g a 'strin g ' over h e r h e a d (Plate 33). The fem ale figure is in ex c ellen t c o n d itio n a n d a p p e a rs to be contem porary w ith a n ad jacen t p ain tin g of a m ounted horsem an . Again, all th a t c a n be said is th a t th e black p ain tin g precedes a
figure th a t is probably very recent.