Centre for Rock Art Research + Management

CRAR+M is delighted to welcome Associate Professor Ursula Frederick who has just joined us as Principal Kimberley Research Fellow!

Ursula is an archaeologist and artist whose research practice focuses on art, visual cultures and the ways in which people of the past and present mark their place in the world. She has a strong interest in contact rock art, contemporary archaeologies and the role of photography. Her current research projects include the study of carved boab trees in the Kimberley, graffiti and placemaking in regional Australia, and the impacts of visitor’s material culture in Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park. Ursula’s art practice has a focus on experimental photomedia, printmaking and ceramics. She loves gnocchi and her favourite colour is green, her favourite singer is PJ Harvey and her favourite movie is Harold & Maude.

We are excited to add Ursula's diverse interests to our own - and to increase our spectral favoritism (Jo purple; Sam orange; Emma blue; Caroline red ...)!!

Welcome Urs, to the CRAR+M UWA corridors :)

From wood to charcoal: a deep dive into how wood anatomy and fire signatures shape archaeological interpretation in Australia. Discover how anthracology and controlled experiments help researchers tell more accurate stories from charcoal and wooden artefacts. Read the full study by Chae Byrne and Emilie Dotte-Sarout. https://wix.to/ytvD6Xd

Desert to the Sea Outreach Officer Emily Grey tagged along on a recent JYAC Women's Ranger trip in Jigalong, helping support intergenerational knowledge transfer 👫 Healthy Country learning about traditional Martu seasonal knowledge and land management 🔥🌿 water restoration 💧and traditional Martu weaving 👏🧶🪡. It's always a joy to support Martu caring for Ngurra!

The Dating Muruga’s Dreaming Project researchers were out at Hickman Crater again this week. In our quest to understand the age of this meteor impact we deployed several geophysical techniques, and started to drill the crater floor to understand the environmental changes that have occurred since impact. Unfortunately, the hydraulic head on our corer failed: so, we will be back! Lovely time of year and the team were lucky enough to spot the mysterious lights that emanated from the Chinese rock launch on Saturday night! Thanks to KNAC representatives Jimmy and Slim for keeping us safe on-county.

Great to be working on country with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation rangers recording rock art. DTTS Rock Art Fellow Victoria Wade practising two-way science supporting the Rangers in their important caring for country!

Great digital (contemporary) rock art project in Vienna, out of Wein University. We heard about this from Geert Verhoeven in the plenary session of Conference. 35km of constantly changing graffiti (some legal) along the Danube Canal!


https://projectindigo.eu/project_details/what_where_when/

Jo and Emma have just finished their week in Vienna, first working in the Welt Museum Weir, looking at collections made by Emile Clement over 100 years ago from the Pilbara and Western Desert (thanks to Claudia Augustat for organising). This was followed by a fabulous CAA Conference (where they both forgot to take a picture of the other talking!🤪). They presented in a great session on Digital Methods in Rock Art Research organised by Oliver Vogel, Rebecca Dohl, Ashley Green and Eymard Fader. The conference ended with an excursion to a circular ditch, museum and prehistoric village reconstruction at Heldenberg (where the Lippizaner horses also train!) and a nearby Roman village reconstruction. Two fantastic local experts and Gail Higgenbottham guided us- despite it being Easter Saturday!! Thanks to all the organisers for such a great week!

Review by Jo McDonald of Aboriginal Rock Art and the Telling of History, by Laura Rademaker, Sally K. May, Gabriel Maralngurra and Joakim Goldhahn (Cambridge University Press, 2024, 184 pp., ISBN 9781009523356 (online). Now published as Open Source!

Aboriginal Rock Art and the Telling of History Published in Australian Archaeology (Ahead of Print, 2026)

Great to have this paper out, in Nature Scientific Reports, led by Katy Evans of the MRAMP team and hosts Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, confirming that acid rain is not the danger at Murujuga!

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-44180-6?fbclid=IwZnRzaAQqDA5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeAAIBQa5c0KsOBMMz3ZPs3PY51717SaslVh9eHCOJ7b8WY2m608u7tZKxuAY_aem_Oy3nq55wEFccBv3Q3AhcjQ

Impacts of industrial emissions on rock art at Murujuga, Western Australia - Scientific Reports The Murujuga Archipelago, Western Australia, hosts over one million petroglyphs that preserve indigenous knowledge spanning 50,000 years. This globally significant and newly UNESCO-listed world heritage site is co-located with heavy industry. Low values of pH on patinated rock surfaces have provoked...

Researchers from the Dating Murujuga’s Dreaming project are pleased to announce the publication of their new paper characterising desert varnish.

Conducted in collaboration with the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, this research provides an important foundation for future sampling of rock art surfaces coated with desert varnish. By analysing this material, the team aims to advance efforts to date rock art from deep time and improve understanding of the earliest phases of artistic production within the Murujuga Cultural Landscape.

Free to read here>>

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2026.110154