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World's oldest artwork uncovered in Indonesian cave: study - Phys.org

Cave art on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, was painted 44,000 years ago and is the oldest known to date
Cave art on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, was painted 44,000 years ago and is the oldest known to date

An Indonesian cave painting that depicts a prehistoric hunting scene could be the world's oldest figurative artwork dating back nearly 44,000 years, pointing to an advanced artistic culture, according to new research.

Discovered two years ago on the island of Sulawesi, the 4.5 metre (13 foot) wide painting features being chased by half-human hunters wielding what appear to be spears and ropes, said the study published in Nature on Wednesday.

Using dating technology, the team at Australia's Griffith University said it had confirmed that the painting dated back at least 43,900 years during the Upper Paleolithic period.

"This hunting scene is—to our knowledge—currently the oldest pictorial record of storytelling and the earliest figurative artwork in the world," researchers said.

The discovery comes after a painting of an animal in a on the Indonesian island of Borneo was earlier determined to have been at least 40,000 years old.

For many years, was thought to have emerged from Europe, but Indonesian paintings have challenged that theory.

There are at least 242 caves or shelters with ancient imagery on Sulawesi alone, and new sites are being discovered annually, the team said.

In the latest dated scene, hunters are depicted in dark red colours with human bodies and the heads of animals including birds and reptiles.

The , which is in poor condition, suggests that a highly advanced artistic culture existed some 44,000 years ago, punctuated by folklore, religious myths and spiritual belief, the team said.

  • For many years, cave art was thought to have emerged from Europe, but Indonesian paintings have challenged that theory
    For many years, cave art was thought to have emerged from Europe, but Indonesian paintings have challenged that theory
  • There are at least 242 caves or shelters with ancient imagery on Sulawesi island alone, and new sites are being discovered annua
    There are at least 242 caves or shelters with ancient imagery on Sulawesi island alone, and new sites are being discovered annually

"(The scene) may be regarded not only as the earliest dated figurative art in the world but also as the oldest evidence for the communication of a narrative in Palaeolithic art," researchers said.

"This is noteworthy, given that the ability to invent fictional stories may have been the last and most crucial stage in the evolutionary history of human language and the development of modern-like patterns of cognition."

World's oldest artwork uncovered in Indonesian cave: study
Credit: A. Brumm  (figure design and production); A.A. Oktaviana (digital tracings); R. Sardi (photographs of rock art); C.C. Lee (Sus celebensis photograph). Caption: Late Pleistocene rock art panel from Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4. Discovered in 2017, this cave painting of a narrative hunting ‘scene’ from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has been dated using Uranium-series analysis to at least 43,900 years ago – it is the oldest known figurative art in the world.

Explore further

Oldest known animal drawing found in remote Indonesian cave

More information: Maxime Aubert et al. Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art, Nature (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1806-y

© 2019 AFP

Citation: World's oldest artwork uncovered in Indonesian cave: study (2019, December 12) retrieved 12 December 2019 from https://ift.tt/2PBqd82

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