4. Dampier Rock Art Complex (Australia, Australian Aboriginal)

The Dampier Archipelago, located in northwestern Australia and stretching into the Indian Ocean from the Burrup Peninsula, is home to a magnificent collection of Aboriginal petroglyphs carved in rock faces and outcroppings. With around a million carvings across 400 square kilometers, these engravings constitute the largest corpus of rock art in the world. Some of the most ancient carvings date to tens of thousands of years into the past, when people first settled Australia, and depict sacred spirits, rituals, and animals – including several that are extinct (Tasmanian Tigers) or are no longer found in the region (Emus).

Iron Mining in Dampier, 2003. This mine directly abuts important rock art sites, and produces emissions that contribute heavily to acid rain that is degrading them. Photo by Nachoman-au

The Burrup Peninsula’s rock art sites have been listed as endangered by the National Trust of Australia, but industrial expansion since 1963 across more than 25% of the rock art area has posed severe threats to the site. Much of the heaviest (mining and petrochemical) industry is located immediately adjacent to some of the most sensitive collections of artwork. Acid rain from this has begun to erase many of the carefully, but often shallowly, engraved rock surfaces, and studies by archaeologists and geologists have postulated that most of the rock art will disappear completely by the middle of the 21st century.