Ancient Rock Art May Rewrite Tasmanian Tiger History

Fourteen rock paintings hidden in the caves of Arnhem Land are changing what we know about when Tasmanian tigers disappeared from mainland Australia.

Researchers from Griffith University worked alongside traditional owners to document the thylacine artworks at Awunbarna and Injalak Hill in the Northern Territory. The team also found two paintings depicting Tasmanian devils, the thylacine's smaller carnivorous cousin.

The real surprise came from the paint itself. Some images contained white pipe clay, which degrades quickly over time, suggesting they were created within the last 1,000 years.

Scientists previously believed both species went extinct on the mainland around 3,000 years ago. These paintings, if accurately dated, push that timeline forward by 2,000 years.

Rock art specialist Paul Taçon acknowledges the dating isn't certain yet. Artists might have copied older paintings as a way of preserving cultural memory. Still, the possibility that these striped marsupials roamed northern Australia more recently than we thought opens exciting new questions.

Why This Inspires

This discovery shows how Indigenous knowledge and Western science can work together to uncover truth. Djalama traditional owner Joey Nganjmirra helped identify the animals in the paintings using oral histories passed down through generations.

"They used to tell stories about going hunting with thylacines," Nganjmirra explained. His people call the animal djankerrk and maintain detailed cultural memories of living alongside them.

The paintings often show thylacines with the Rainbow Serpent, a key figure in Aboriginal Dreamtime stories. According to local tradition, the Rainbow Serpent kept two thylacines as pets.

To identify thylacines in rock art, the research team used six distinct features, including the animals' pointed ears and upturned tails. This careful methodology helps settle decades of debate about which cave paintings actually depict the extinct predators.

The thylacine remains deeply important to west Arnhem Land's traditional owners. These aren't just scientific specimens to them but cultural ancestors woven into the fabric of their stories and identity.

The paintings remind us that extinction isn't just a biological event but a cultural loss that echoes through generations.