The Marra Wonga stone shelter in central Queensland may have more petroglyphs ( sway engravings ) than any other undivided site in the existence . telling as that is , a study of the art there report something even more distinctive and important : a series of painting telling the story of the Seven Sisters , also know as thePleiades .
The Pleiades is a cluster of brilliant stars that has inspired stories the worldly concern over . Some of these areremarkably similar , despite being from cultures half a macrocosm apart . In particular , the tales told by the ancient Greeks bear a strong resemblance to those of Indigenous Australians .
Although there are variations in the telling across the vast expanses of northern Australia , the taradiddle of seven sister give chase by a man is a common feature . As in the Greek version , the Sister hightail it into the sky to become the Pleiades but are pursued by a huntsman , represented by Orion . One version is represented at the Marra Wonga shelter , stretch over 160 metre ( 530 feet ) . A discipline in the journal Australian Archaeology describe some of the petroglyphs , including those supply a unique insight into the Seven Sisters ’ story .
The central portion of Marra Wonga giving more sense of the scale. Image Credit: A. Jalandoni
" All rock music fine art internet site have or once had account affiliate with special designs and the sites themselves , as well as the landscape painting they are a part of , " saidProfessor Paul Taconof Griffith University in astatement . “ But we know of no other rock ‘n’ roll art site anywhere in the globe with a story that take to the woods across the totality of the site . ”
At least 15,000 petroglyphs are find at the Marra Wonga internet site , investigating all of them is the project of a lifetime . This may well be the large phone number find oneself at any single location in the globe , Tacon tell IFLScience . Despite this , the internet site has not been heavy hit the books and lacks the protection granted toThe Palace , another large North Queensland web site .
Tacon is seeking to redress this , get together with fellow faculty member and representative of the Iningai and Birri Gubba the great unwashed .
A snake more than 2 meters (6.5 foot) long representing one of the forms Wattanuri changed himself into, helping him chase the sisters. Image Credit: P Tacon
Although the composition draws attention to several specific petroglyph and repeated themes , its principal direction is on 10 cluster of engraving . Read to the south to north , “ the order makes sense for modern-day primaeval residential area members as unlike parts of the Seven Sisters Dreaming story , in the correct sequence , ” Tacon say .
Along with seven star to represent the sisters , the engraving represent Wattanuri , the Ancestral Being who chased them , the ophidian he turned into , his boomerang , the data track of a dingo who protect the sisters , and six - toed footprints commonly colligate with powerful beings . There is also an engraving of a large penis . This might be read as evidence some thing never modify , but Wattanuri ’s oversized genitalia is a widespread feature of the story .
The geezerhood of the engravings is voiceless to identify . Some petroglyphs at the site are call back to have been made in the last C , but others are in styles made elsewhere more than 5,000 years ago . Tacon assure IFLScience those that make up the Seven Sisters narrative show like wear to each other , as if made at the same time , but it is hard to know when that was .
It might be the world’s oldest dick pic. The penis is thought to be Wattanuri’s, indicating his desire to make the sisters his wives. Image Credit: P Tacon
The author even find a previously unnoticed eighth maven hidden at the end of the chronological succession .
Even in civilisation that tell a different story for the Pleiades , the bunch is associated with the number seven . However , six stars are seeable to mass with normal eyesight under dark skies . scope reveal the cluster ’s seventh wizard is barely burnished than the 8th and 9th , realise this consensus a puzzle .
“ Some people have suggested that the account may be very , very honest-to-god and may have arisen at a time when our ascendent were starting to spread across the world and there were seven seeable , ” Tacon told IFLScience . “ It does seem more than coincidence that seven are referred to across the world . ” Many traditions concern to one of the sister hiding herself , perhaps comprise here by the 8th star .
The previously unnoticed hidden star, possibly representing an eighth sister, or one of the seven on Earth. Image Credit Paul Tacon
The paper is write inAustralian Archaeology .
