Evidence suggests that humans first arrived in Australia approximately 60,000 years ago. These people are purported to have traveled from south-east Asia across the land bridges to northern Australia. Archaeologists have now discovered early occupation sites at the three most probable entry areas - the Kimberley, Arnhem Land and Cape York Peninsula.
In northern Australia there are many caves, cliffs and sandstone rock-shelters, it is widely accepted that these were used for camping, their floors are layered with charcoal and ash from camp fires, the remains of food such as shells and animal bones, stone tools and, very often, pieces of ochre have been found. Ochre comes from soft varieties of iron oxide minerals (such as haematite - a fine-grained iron oxide which produces a strong red colour with a purple tint) and from rocks containing ferric oxide, and is still used in Aboriginal Art.
In the case of rock painting, the original Aboriginal Art, dates have been obtained for pigment directly on the walls and for painted fragments buried in deposits of campsite material. Techniques for dating have usually involved radio-carbon dating of material, but there are also newer techniques now available including optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS).
Radiocarbon dating is limited to a maximum age of around 40 000 years, and the newer techniques are required for dating of older materials. AMS is a new radiocarbon dating method enabling the dating of much smaller samples of carbon than the traditional radiocarbon (C-14) method.
Pieces of Ocre have been associated with nearly all discovered sites and most have been dated at over 10000 years. The reason we dwell on the heritage of Aboriginal art is simply to prove that it can be traced back to the stone age. While aboriginal art now uses a lot of the latest artistic materials, many of the old favorites are still in use, so ochre, bark and wood is still popular.
Because of the difficulty in presenting art in caves to a wider audience it was only a matter of time before art moved onto canvas and tiles. With the early artist creating a dedicated following many of their paintings and carvings have appreciated phenomenally , some showing unprecedented growth.
With there being all manner of art to invest in aboriginal art offers a great way to get art that your neighbors and friends may have never heard of. With this type of art it is very easy to find a person that is new to the market but has been doing it for awhile. If you can get the right painter at the right time you could have a great win.
You will then have a valuable and authentic piece of aboriginal art, there is nothing quiet like watching a piece of art bout cheap go for $50000 dollars. While many artist will never achieve this type of fame it seems that more aboriginal paintings and carvings are appreciating faster.