OCEANIA · CAPE YORK

Quinkan Country

Ancestral beings of Quinkan Country

These figures remain part of the traditions of the region's Aboriginal communities.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Photographic detail of Quinkan Country rock paintings, with elongated figures on the rock, photographed by Michael Gardner in 2002. — **PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL · Michael Gardner · 2002 · PUBLIC DOMAIN**
Documentary original · Exact correspondence
Documentary photograph published as Quinkan2.jpg. Its 4:3 framing and native resolution of 640 × 480 pixels are preserved, without enlargement or reconstruction of details. The copyright licence does not replace respect for the traditional custodians of the cultural landscape.
Michael Gardner (MichaelGG) · Quinkan Country · Inventory: Quinkan2.jpg · Public domain · author dedication (PD-user)
Source and provenance ↗Terms of use ↗

**PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ORIGINAL · Michael Gardner · 2002 · PUBLIC DOMAIN**
Documentary original · Exact correspondence
Documentary photograph published as Quinkan2.jpg. Its 4:3 framing and native resolution of 640 × 480 pixels are preserved, without enlargement or reconstruction of details. The copyright licence does not replace respect for the traditional custodians of the cultural landscape.
Michael Gardner (MichaelGG) · Quinkan Country · Inventory: Quinkan2.jpg · Public domain · author dedication (PD-user)
Source and provenance ↗Terms of use ↗

History and context

In the shelters of Quinkan Country appear tall, slender beings, and others with broad bodies and surprising forms. The names Timara, Imjim or Anurra belong to knowledge systems linked to the land; calling them simply "ghosts" erases the living relationship between image, place and custodians.

The region preserves evidence of occupation of around 34,000 years and rock art up to around 27,000 BP. Those figures describe the cultural landscape, not every visible figure. Continuity into modern times makes the ensemble a conversation, not a closed capsule.

Evidence and interpretation

The panel shown is not individually dated and should not automatically receive the maximum regional age. The photograph is reusable by copyright, but the image still belongs to a living cultural landscape: its dissemination must respect the guidelines and decisions of the traditional custodians.

Catalogue facts

Date: Regional art up to ≈27,000 BP · modern continuity
Location: Quinkan Country · Laura area, Queensland, Australia
Material: Pigments on rock shelters
Landscape: Regional occupation documented from ≈34,000 BP
Subject: Ancestral beings Timara and Imjim/Anurra
Status: Heritage of a living culture
Caution: No individual date for the photographed panel

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

THE CURRENT OBJECT

Its date is not sufficiently established to place it on the timeline. We keep it here, separate from the dated objects.

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Regional art up to ≈27,000 BP · modern continuity

Quinkan Country

Prehistory

Regional continuity and maximum age do not equate to an individual date for the panel.

Current record

Pigments14 dated objects

1 / 14In the centre: Engraved ochre from Blombos

Also connected, without a comparable date (8)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

BhimbetkaPrehistory · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period
Blue that does not yieldMaya worlds · Documented use from the Classic, c. 300–1500 CE
Eland CavePrehistory · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period
Game Pass ShelterSan histories · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation
KakaduPrehistory · Regional corpus ≈20,000 BP–contemporary era
Leang KarampuangPrehistory · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024
Sierra de San FranciscoPrehistory · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP
Tassili n’AjjerPrehistory · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Rock art

Current object, without a comparable date: Quinkan Country.

Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Engraved stone · Before ≈39,000 cal BP · Prehistory
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Kakadu · Regional corpus ≈20,000 BP–contemporary era · Prehistory
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory

Painting

Current object, without a comparable date: Quinkan Country.

Before the San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Before the name San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Before Sumer · mid-6th–5th millennium BCE · Sumer
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory
Vasiliki · ca. 2500–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before the Greeks · c. 2400–2200 BCE · Greek worlds
Before Vedic India · c. 1900–1300 BCE · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Grey bowl from Hastinapura · c. 1100–800 BCE in the classical sequence of Hastinapura · Vedic and later Indian worlds
Orpheus among the Thracians · circa 440 BCE; attributed to the London Painter E 497. · Thracians
The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Karwa textile · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third 4th–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
The walls of San Bartolo · c. 100 BCE · Maya worlds
Ceramics that continued · Last third of the 2nd century BCE–1st century CE · Iberians

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

A vase travels; the rite changes · No individual dating published on this record · Iberians
Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Blue that does not yield · Documented use from the Classic, c. 300–1500 CE · Maya worlds
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Kakadu · Regional corpus ≈20,000 BP–contemporary era · Prehistory
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory

Human imagery

Current object, without a comparable date: Quinkan Country.

Lion-man · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Hohle Fels · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Willendorf · ≈29,500 years · Prehistory
Brno II Articulated Figure · ≈28,000 years cal BP · by funerary association · Prehistory
Dolní Věstonice I · ≈29,000–27,000 years · Prehistory
Lespugue · ≈28,000 years · Prehistory
Kostenki I · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Shigir Idol · C. 10,000 BCE · approximation; debated dating · Prehistory
Nahal Hemar mask · Eighth millennium BCE · context dating, not direct dating of the stone · Prehistory
El Miradero spatula-idols · ≈4000–3800 cal BCE · Prehistory
Warka Mask · End of the 4th millennium BCE · Sumer
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory
Uruk Vase · ca. 3300–3000 BCE · Sumer
Worshiper of Tell Asmar · Towards 2900–2600 BCE · Sumer
Standard of Ur · ca. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Statue of Ebih-Il · Towards 2400 BCE · Sumer
Akkadian sovereign head · Akkadian period · 23rd century BCE · Sumer
Bassetki Statue · Akkadian period · 23rd century BCE · Sumer
Before Pre-Inca Cultures · Kotosh-Mito Tradition, c. 2200–1500 BCE; the enclosure is usually situated around 1800 BCE. · Pre-Inca cultures
Queen of the Night · 19th–18th centuries BCE · Sumer
Bull-leaping · c. 1600–1450 BCE · Greek worlds
Wooden faces · c. 1600–1000 BCE, in several phases · Maya worlds
Head 2 · c. 1200–900 BCE · Maya worlds
Ivory in Nimrud · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Las Limas · c. 1000–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Phoenicians
Astarte from El Carambolo · 8th century BCE · Iberians
Lamassu of Khorsabad · Reign of Sargon II · 721–705 BCE · Sumer
The Lanzón · c. 900–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Offering 4 · c. 800–600 BCE · Maya worlds
Kushite king · c. 721–664 BCE · Nubia, Kerma and Kush
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Phoenicians
The so-called ‘Priest of Cádiz’ · 7th century BCE · Iberians
Heads on the wall · c. 800–300 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Shabti of Psamtek · 570–526 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Two voices in an urn · 530–520 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The god on the roof · Towards 510–500 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
Glazed brick guards · 522–486 BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Twenty-three delegations · 6th–5th centuries BCE, mainly under Darius and Xerxes · Achaemenid Persia
Banquet under leopards · Around 480–470 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The statue was the urn · First half of the 4th century BCE · Iberians
A battle on a comb · Early 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
The Kul-Oba vase · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
The Solokha gold comb · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Faces of the Steppe · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Scythians and Saka
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Punic head pendant · Mid 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Lady of Ibiza · 4th–3rd centuries BCE · Iberians
The Raimondi Stele · c. 400–200 BCE according to MNAAHP · Pre-Inca cultures
Chão de Lamas pectoral · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · concealed in the early 1st century BCE · Iberians
Vas dels Guerrers · 3rd–early 2nd century BCE · Iberians
Warriors' Vase · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Iberians
The dismantled cauldron · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Celtic worlds
The walls of San Bartolo · c. 100 BCE · Maya worlds
Gladiators Cup of Chavagnes · 25–75 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Thracian Gladiator from Cádiz · 67–100 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Torreáguila fountain spout · 101–125 CE · Etruscans and Rome
Articulated doll from Tarragona · Late 3rd–4th century CE · Etruscans and Rome
Seven heads · c. 500–700 CE · Bantu-speaking worlds
Seated figure · 13th century, date attributed by the museum · Mande Worlds
Kongo crucifix · 16th–17th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds
Kuba ndop · ca. 1760 · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Before Persia · Central core c. seventeenth century BCE; Neo-Elamite additions between the ninth and sixth centuries BCE · Achaemenid Persia
Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Four offerers · Iberian period · individual dating according to catalogue · Iberians
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Lararium of Vilauba · Roman period · Etruscans and Rome
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory
The Thracian Horseman · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE · Thracians

Community heritage

Current object, without a comparable date: Quinkan Country.

A map with the right to be closed · 2012–2013 · Batwa / Twa histories
Eleven articles · Adopted April–May 2022; public portal 2025 · Batwa / Twa histories

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Clicks and contact · precolonial contacts with varying chronologies and subsequent continuity · Bantu-speaking worlds
Healing dance · Recordings 1968–1972 · San histories
Kakadu · Regional corpus ≈20,000 BP–contemporary era · Prehistory
Living m’bolon · The present with historical memory · Mande Worlds
Memory in performance · 19th–20th centuries and transmitted practice · Bantu-speaking worlds
Sosso-Bala · Tradition linked through narrative to the 13th century; the present instrument and its custodianship have their own chronology · Mande Worlds

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

Knowing the place also requires listening to its custodians

Heritage documentation acknowledges the collaboration of Tommy George, George Musgrave, Percy Trezise and Dick Roughsey in the research and dissemination of Quinkan Country. Their work reminds us that a photographic archive does not by itself contain the knowledge of a landscape. Communities maintain laws, stories and relationships with specific places, and not all their values are publicly mapped. The entry presents an accessible approximation; it does not substitute the authority of the custodians to decide what knowledge may be shared and how.

Heritage · DCCEEW · Quinkan Country, national heritageAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Reference images and provenance

Full panoramic view of the main rock gallery of Split Rock, Quinkan Country. — **COMPLEMENTARY VIEW OF THE ORIGINAL · Ianpwhite · CC BY-SA 4.0**
Full documentary panoramic view of Split Rock, preserved uncropped. Provides the context of the panel; the regional age does not individually date each visible figure.
Documentary original · Contextual correspondence
Ianpwhite · Quinkan Country · Split Rock · Inventory: Split rock panorama
Image provenance CC BY-SA 4.0

Location and territory

REGIONAL AREA

Quinkan Country · QueenslandThe marker indicates the Laura area within a living cultural landscape that is much broader.

Sources and references

Expand the history of Quinkan Country

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Quinkan Country

History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Objects connected through time

Quinkan Country

Engraved ochre from Blombos

Willendorf

Before the San

Before the name San

Altamira

Lascaux

Kostenki I

Cueva de las Manos

Queen of the Night

Ceramic stand 1010

Banquet under leopards

The Karwa textile

The walls of San Bartolo

Venus in the codex

A closer look

Knowing the place also requires listening to its custodians

Reference images and provenance

Location and territory

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?