INDONESIAN CAVE UNCOVERS WORLD’S OLDEST ARTWORK

Dated rock art panel at Leang Karampuang.

Thu 04 July 2024:

Scientists have found what they believe to be the world’s oldest artwork in a cave on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island. The painting, depicting three people around a large red pig, is estimated to be around 51,200 years old, according to research published on Wednesday.

“This is the oldest evidence of storytelling,” said Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist at Australia’s Griffith University and co-author of a study published in Nature, to AFP news agency.

Aubert was part of the team that identified the previous record holder, a picture of a warty pig believed to be at least 45,500 years old. The new discovery, located in the Leang Karampuang cave in South Sulawesi’s Maros-Pangkep region, is in poor condition.

Karampuang Hill, where the artwork was found.

The artwork, measuring 92cm by 38cm (36 inches by 15 inches), shows three people around a wild pig, rendered in a single shade of dark red pigment. Other images of pigs are also present in the cave.

“The juxtaposition of the figures – how they are positioned in relation to each other – and the manner in which they are interacting – were clearly deliberate, and it conveys an unmistakable sense of action. There is something happening between these figures. A story is being told. Obviously, we don’t know what that story was,” said Adam Brumm, another study author and Griffith University archaeologist.

Dated rock art panel at Leang Karampuang. a. Photograph of the cave painting (enhanced using the DStretch program to highlight the art); b. Tracing of the art showing the location of sampled calcium carbonate deposits and associated minimum U-series ages (ka = thousands of years ago); c. Tracing of the art. The human-like figures are denoted H1 to H3. A.A. Oktaviana and Ratno Sardi

Aubert suggested that the paintings were likely created by the first group of humans who traveled through Southeast Asia before arriving in Australia around 65,000 years ago. “It’s probably just a matter of time before we find samples that are older,” he added.

Previously, the first narrative art was thought to have emerged in Europe.

The date for the Indonesian cave art is “quite provocative” due to its significant age compared to other findings, including those in Europe, noted Chris Stringer, an anthropologist at London’s Natural History Museum. Although not involved in the research, Stringer mentioned that the experienced team’s findings appear sound but need further confirmation through additional dating.

“In my view, this find reinforces the idea that representational art was first produced in Africa, before 50,000 years ago, and the concept spread as our species spread,” Stringer told AFP. “If that is true, much new supporting evidence from other areas including Africa has yet to emerge.”

The researchers used a new scientific method to determine the minimum age of the Leang Karampuang cave painting, employing a laser to date a type of crystal called calcium carbonate that naturally formed on top of the artwork.

Example of sample cross section showing the pigment layer and overlying calcium carbonate layers, left, and equivalent U-series isotopes map, right. Author supplied.

Little is known about the people who created the Sulawesi cave paintings.

“This discovery of very old cave art in Indonesia drives home the point that Europe was not the birthplace of cave art, as had long been assumed. It also suggests that storytelling was a much older part of human history, and the history of art, in particular, than previously recognized,” Brumm stated.

“The earliest Sulawesi rock art is not ‘simple’,” Aubert added. “It is quite advanced and shows the mental capacity of people at the time.”

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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