A New Melanesian Rock-Art Style: Figurative Engravings at Roche Mauprat, Arama Chiefdom, New Caledonia

Abstract

The paper presents the initial study of a unique rock-art site discovered at the northern tip of the Mainland (Grande Terre) of New Caledonia. On the walls of a cliff-face at the foot of a karst outcrop near Roche Mauprat, people have carved successive layers of geometric and figurative motifs. The fine, detailed engraving style of some human figures is unlike anything identified to date in the rock-art of New Caledonia, where petroglyph anthropomorphic motifs are very rare. We present the main themes that have been recorded, including geometrics, groups of dancing figures and sets of traditional houses surrounded by trees. Only one European figure was identified, indicating that the main engraving period was probably pre-contact and pre-colonial. The paper discusses the relation of this new rock-art style to other art forms, and especially the well-studied Kanak engraved bamboo tradition that flourished during the second half of the nineteenth century in New Caledonia.