Rock Art In West Papua and Its Neigbouring Regions

Karina Arifin

Departemen Arkeologi, Universitas Indonesia

 The presence of rock art in West Papua has been noticed since the 19th century. Previous attempts to review the rock art in the Melanesian regional context have been conducted by several authors. This include efforts to integrate the rock art sites, topography and the distribution of languages to provide a better picture of its regional correlation as well as prehistoric cultural context.

However, most of the rock art sites in this region have been poorly documented, therefore comparison between sites are often difficult. To overcome this problem, it has been suggested to reexamine most of the sites and create a better recording technique. Such procedures must also be executed in West Papua. In addition, the preservation and conservation of the rock art sites should also be seriously considered.