2008-11-27 澳洲岩画艺术

Long before the land grew roads and towns, long before the first Westerners arrived, long before humans here even had a word for art, the rock artists of Australia were drawing the Dreamtime. The Dreamtime for the aboriginal¹ people is their story of creation, that time, so very long ago, when rocks and animals, and plants and people first sprang from the earth. And their beliefs about the Dreamtime are reflected in ancient paintings on rock, untold² numbers of them buried in the stone country of Kakadu National Park. Thompson Yulidjirri still paints in the time-honored way.

"When I used to go stay with my grandfather, I used to tell him, “Please, tell me the stories of my ancestors.”

The aboriginal people of Australia are believed to have inhabited this land for at least 40,000, maybe 100,000 years, that would make them the oldest continuous human culture on the planet, and their ancient art is like a primitive³ history book and guide for living.

Pictures tell us a story here of how birds warn kangaroos of approaching hunters, and here the tale of war. Aboriginal people of all believed the pictures imparted powers. Paint a harvest, a fat fish, and chances are one would come your way. Seasons played a big role in their lives, so many of the images were painted each year at a specific time. The artists used red ocher(赭石) and yellow ocher made of soil and white clay. Certain clans（群体） were responsible for painting specific animals. If your group painted turtles, that’s what you painted, not kangaroos.

It was all seen as magic, all ceremonial, part of keeping the earth healthy. The last pure rock artist died in the 1960s. And modern aboriginal artists paint in bark, paper, wood, making their work portable and valuable. But the oldest works of rock art here are very slowly losing the battle with time. Centuries of monsoon⁴ rains, insects and tiny reptiles⁵ crawling over them, brushing away the grains of color.

1 aboriginal   

adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的

参考例句：

• They managed to wipe out the entire aboriginal population.他们终于把那些土著人全部消灭了。
• The lndians are the aboriginal Americans.印第安人是美国的土著人。

2 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

3 primitive   

adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物

参考例句：

• It is a primitive instinct to flee a place of danger.逃离危险的地方是一种原始本能。
• His book describes the march of the civilization of a primitive society.他的著作描述了一个原始社会的开化过程。

4 monsoon   

n.季雨，季风，大雨

参考例句：

• The monsoon rains started early this year.今年季雨降雨开始得早。
• The main climate type in that region is monsoon.那个地区主要以季风气候为主要气候类型。

5 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》