Researchers are racing against time as they work with a First Nation group across some of the harshest terrain on Earth to document traces of ancient art in Australia’s monkey bread trees. Tree carvings tell the story of Brown Kingsnake (or Lingka) who dreams of the remote Tanami Desert that straddles the border between Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
After more than two years of fieldwork, the research team from the Australian National University (ANU), the University of Western Australia and the University of Canberra found a total of 12 inscriptions as well as five bread trees for monkeys.
Many of the carved trees are hundreds of years old, says Professor Sue O’Connor, ANU School of Culture, History and Languages, so there is an urgent need to capture high-quality footage before these magnificent World Heritage trees die.
Unlike most Australian trees, the inner wood of monkey bread trees is soft and fibrous, and when the trees die they simply collapse Professor O’Connor said Heritage Online scientific portal. “Unfortunately, after centuries, if not thousands of years, this amazing work of art, like the rock art known to Aboriginal Australians, may be lost and gone forever.”
He added that it was important that indigenous knowledge and stories not be lost and that they be shared across generations.
We are racing against time to document this invaluable cultural heritage pointed out. “It is often said that these trees live up to two thousand years, but that depends on the age of their giant relatives in southern Africa, who are of different species.”
This is precisely why experts have not been able to determine the exact age of their Australian counterparts. they think It is crucial that they know the immediate age of these remarkable Australian trees, which can help tell the story of First Nations Australians while being a source of a rich cultural heritage.
Scientists have identified hundreds of monkey bread trees on Google Earth that we don’t yet have access to. In the course of the next research, I would also like to check if they hide sculptures similar to this.
