A Singular Beeswax Representation of Namarrkon, the Lightning Man, from Western Arnhem Land

Samples from a beeswax representation of Namarrkon, the Lightning Man, from western Arnhem Land were analysed for radiocarbon and dated to be about 150 years old. An underlying beeswax figure was found to be approximately 1100 years old. The Dreaming Being Namarrkon is well known throughout Arnhem Land, although his sphere of activity is concentrated around the northern half of the Arnhem Land plateau. Namarrkon is well represented in rock-paintings in this area and continues to be well represented in contemporary canvas-paintings by artists from the broader plateau region. We conclude that representations of Namarrkon in both painted and beeswax forms appear to be parallel manifestations of the late Holocene regionalisation of Arnhem Land.