Koonalda Cave, Nullarbor Plain, South Australia, c. 16,000-27,000 BP / l)gridpl33
"Plate 33. A definite attempt to form a pattern. This grid was presumably made with a piece of flint or a sharp stick. Photograph by R. Edwards." North East Wall, Section 7, the last section before the Squeeze. "A large lattice or grid, approximately two feet by three, made up of a few deep single strokes, stands out high on the wall (Pl. 33). It is about three feet out of arm's reach under present circumstances and appears to have been made with a stick. This was the only pattern observed in this section" (68). "Several rough lattices or grids are formed by the intersection of groups of horizontal and vertical cuts. One regular lattice, however, which is situated on the wall above the beginning of the Squeeze, shows definite spacing of the lines forming it rather than random scratches in two directions. It consists of eight verticals, about three feet long, and eighteen horizontals eleven inches long. All the lines are about one and a quarter inches apart (Pl. 33)" (75).
Palaeoart Interpretation (James Harrod): Categorizable as a 'Lattice (Grid) Motif', examples of which are documented at least from the Lower Paleolithic in Eurasia. Intriguingly, in the Art Passage--based on the Maynard and Edwards report--grids are said to be 'many' among the digital fluting, but only three occurrences are detailed: one on the wall at N.E.1, that is, at the beginning of Art Passage (see Previous image); the lattice depicted below, in N.E. 7, the last N.E. wall section 'above the beginning of the Squeeze'; and a third, in S.W. 3, the last S. W. wall section before the Squeeze (70). In short, the Grid motif seems to frame the Art Passage at beginning and far end at the Squeeze.
Photo © R. Edwards, in L. Maynard and R. Edwards, in Wright, R. V. S. (ed.). 1971. Archaeology of the Gallus Site, Koonalda Cave. Canberra: Australian Institute for Aboriginal Studies: Plate 33. |
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