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The Gwion Gwion paintings

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c. 10,000 BC · Kimberley, Western Australia · Oceania · Culture

Wasp nests helped date these elegant figures

The Gwion Gwion paintings
Wikimedia Commons

Thousands of rock faces in Australia's Kimberley region are painted with slender human figures adorned with tassels, bags and headdresses. A 2020 study dated mud-wasp nests built over and under the paintings and found most figures to be about 12,000 years old.