Susan Standen, ABC Open producer for the Pilbara, presents her new film 'The ancient art of the Dampier Archipelago'.

'The Burrup Peninsula is home to the world's biggest collection of ancient Aboriginal rock art, with over one million engraved art petroglyphs that predate the pyramids and Stonehenge by tens of thousands of years.This video story explores the passion of archaeologist Ken Mulvaney, a man determined to secure the preservation of the rock art. He takes us on a tour of some of the oldest depictions of the human face ever discovered and shows us engraved animals now extinct on mainland Australia.'

The Burrup Peninsula, also known as Murujuga, is a peninsula in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, adjoining the Dampier Archipelago and near the town of Dampier. The peninsula is a spectacular ecological and archaeological area, with a very significant collection of petroglyphs, the date of which is unproven but expected to be that of many millennia. A common depiction is the now extinct Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger. Other motifs include figures, animals and symbols. There are considered to be about 500,000 carvings on the largest island (Burrup Peninsula, formerly Dampier Island) in the Archipelago.

However, the Dampier Rock Art Precinct, which covers the entire Archipelago, is currently the source of much debate due to controversial resource exploration and development. The debate continues, involving the State and National Government and existing claimant groups, the Ngarluma Yindjibarndi, the Yaburara Mardudhunera and the Wong-goo-tt-oo, as well as international rock art organisations.

Susan Standen invites you to watch her film 'The ancient art of the Dampier Archipelago' and comment afterwards:

https://open.abc.net.au/explore/83052