Tracking Change in Rock Art Vocabularies and Styles at Marapikurrinya (Port Hedland, Northwest Australia)

Track engravings dominate the rock art assemblage across Marapikurrinya (Port Hedland) in Northwest Australia, with social change through time linked to changes in how and when this graphic vocabulary is employed. Discrete styles have been identified within the broader engraving body, which is argued to have been produced semi-continuously over the last 7000 years, from the point of sea-level stabilisation in this region. It is proposed that changes in these styles reflect and negotiate environmental, demographic, and social changes. In the most recent stylistic phases, track motifs dominate, and it is argued to reflect change in marking strategy, from localised territorial bounded art to regional social harmonisation. This paper explores the potential functions of track motifs as a vocabulary distinct from other figurative art, using Marapikurrinya as a case study.