Recognising the Kariong Hieroglyphs as a Sacred Site

In a beautiful but unremarkable Australian bush setting, just above picturesque Brisbane Waters and near the town of Kariong, a cluster of approximately three hundred hieroglyphs has been carved on two sandstone rock walls. The academic interest excited by these glyphs, chiefly on the part of the De...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Penicka-Smith, Sarah (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Equinox Publ. [2015]
In: Journal for the academic study of religion
Year: 2015, Volume: 28, Issue: 2, Pages: 191-206
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Kariong (New South Wales) / Australian Aborigines / Petroglyph / Hieroglyphus
RelBib Classification:AG Religious life; material religion
AZ New religious movements
KBS Australia; Oceania
Further subjects:B Landscapes
B MACQUARIE University
B perennism
B Sacred Space
B channelling
B Kariong
B heiroglyphs
B alien religions
B Hieroglyphics
B Relics
Online Access: Volltext (doi)
Description
Summary:In a beautiful but unremarkable Australian bush setting, just above picturesque Brisbane Waters and near the town of Kariong, a cluster of approximately three hundred hieroglyphs has been carved on two sandstone rock walls. The academic interest excited by these glyphs, chiefly on the part of the Department of Egyptology at Macquarie University, has been limited to a decisive debunking of claims that the hieroglyphs are genuine relics of an ancient Egyptian voyage to Australia. Yet the glyphs have become part of the belief stories of a number of people both local and global, and are part of a complex understanding of a very different reality, one in which Australia becomes the new Indus Valley, the Pharaohs walked in Woy Woy, and the local area gains centrality in the spiritual understanding of some people. This paper examines the rich layers of cultural significance the Kariong site has accrued.
ISSN:2047-7058
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the academic study of religion
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1558/jasr.v28i2.26801