Sacred board "tjuringa" ("churinga", "tjurunga"), late 19th century

Description

wood, pigments,
“Tjuringas” were displayed at initiations by elders to explain traditions and legends to novices.

The linear incisions might refer to any number of beings, myths, fabulous beings of the Dreamtime, parts of the heavens or the landscape, plants, and animals and their tracks.

Because any of these motifs can be used to represent many different things, the meaning of a single “tjuringa” is impossible to interpret without information from its owner.