A new style of ancient rock art has been found in Australia

Scientists have discovered a new style of rock art in the northeastern Kimberley region of Australia that was created by Aboriginal people in the mid to late Holocene, some 7,000 to 3,000 years ago.

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This style was named LNF - Linear Naturalistic Figures. The research was conducted by Dr Ana Paula Motta with the Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation and is published in the journal Australian Archaeology.

It was previously thought that animal images with simple outlines belonged to the older IIAP (Irregular Infill Animal Period) style, which dates back as far as 17,000 years ago. But the new finds did not fit into its canons: these animals have a clear outline, a minimum of internal drawing, and they are static, most often depicted in profile.

What are the differences in the new style?

🔸 The animals (most often kangaroos and wallabies) are drawn with a thin line, without complex fills.
🔸 Their poses are static rather than dynamic like earlier works.
🔸 Some images are very geometric, others are detailed anatomical.
🔸 The paintings are often superimposed over older styles (IIAP, Gwion, Static Polychrome) but underneath the Wanjin style drawings, which are from a historical era.

What could this mean?

The researchers believe that this shift to simpler images is not a degradation, but a conscious choice. According to Motta, at a time when sea levels stabilised, stone working techniques changed and Australia's cultural map became more diverse, art became a means of adapting to change.

The depiction of animals (especially marsupials) could reflect not only everyday life but also the underlying connections between people and nature. In the Aboriginal view, animals, plants and people shared a common spiritual source, and their images on the rocks served as expressions of ancestral identity, connections to territory and ritual significance.

The bottom line?

We have before us a new artistic language of ancient cultures that emerged at a crucial moment in their history. Aboriginal people began again to paint what was close to them: animals with which they felt a kinship. LNF is like a diary of a society on the cusp of change.