ABSTRACT
Archaeology and anthropology can offer complementary analytical perspectives on a cultural tradition. In Australia anthropologists studying contemporary Aboriginal art have described rich systems of visual communication and shown that to a very great extent these systems are incomprehensible without the informed guidance of members of the culture within which the art is produced. Motifs are often not transparently representational, and in a good number of cases seem to have no figurative, or iconic, content (Maynard 1977, pp. 396–7). Further, the same motif may signify different mental constructs in different contexts. The full significance of the subject matter of a painting is often only known to the initiated and, indeed, different interpretations of mythological themes may be proposed by different participants (Clunies-Ross & Hiatt 1977, pp. 138–9, Morphy 1984, pp. 87–96, 124–9).
