Paul S. C. Taçon, Andrea Jalandoni, Sally K. May, Joey Nganjmirra, Charlie Mungulda
{"title":"The Devil Is in the Detail: Tasmanian Devil and Tasmanian Tiger Paintings From Awunbarna and Injalak Hill, Northern Territory, Australia","authors":"Paul S. C. Taçon, Andrea Jalandoni, Sally K. May, Joey Nganjmirra, Charlie Mungulda","doi":"10.1002/arco.70024","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Both the Tasmanian devil (<i>Sarcophilus harrisii</i>) and the Tasmanian tiger (<i>Thylacinus cynocephalus</i>) are believed to have become extinct on the Australian mainland about 3000 years ago. However, until now there were only 23 known rock art depictions of the Tasmanian devil and about 150 Tasmanian tiger paintings and petroglyphs, mostly at rock art sites in northern Australia. In this article, we report recently documented images of these species from two locations in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, including two previously undescribed Tasmanian devil paintings in different styles and several thylacines. We then consider reasons why there are so many more depictions of Tasmanian tigers than devils in Australian rock art and whether either species became extinct in Arnhem Land more recently than previously thought.</p>","PeriodicalId":46465,"journal":{"name":"Archaeology in Oceania","volume":"61 1","pages":"237-252"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0000,"publicationDate":"2026-04-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/arco.70024","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Archaeology in Oceania","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/arco.70024","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/3/30 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Both the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) and the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) are believed to have become extinct on the Australian mainland about 3000 years ago. However, until now there were only 23 known rock art depictions of the Tasmanian devil and about 150 Tasmanian tiger paintings and petroglyphs, mostly at rock art sites in northern Australia. In this article, we report recently documented images of these species from two locations in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, including two previously undescribed Tasmanian devil paintings in different styles and several thylacines. We then consider reasons why there are so many more depictions of Tasmanian tigers than devils in Australian rock art and whether either species became extinct in Arnhem Land more recently than previously thought.
期刊介绍:
Archaeology in Oceania is published online and in print versions three times a year: April, July, October. It accepts articles and research reports in prehistoric and historical archaeology, modern material culture and human biology of ancient and modern human populations. Its primary geographic focus is Australia, the islands of the Pacific Ocean and lands of the western Pacific rim. All articles and research reports accepted as being within the remit of the journal and of appropriate standard will be reviewed by two scholars; authors will be informed of these comments though not necessarily of the reviewer’s names.