The painting, found in the Leang Karampuang cave on the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi, depicts three human-like figures and a wild pig.
An Indonesian cave painting is the world’s oldest example of an “illustrated story”, at least 51,200 years old. It is almost 6,000 years older than the previous one arte rupestre oldest and was found nearby, on the same island in Indonesia.
The painting, found in the Leang Karampuang cave, on the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi, depicts three human-like figures and a wild pig. Professor Maxime Aubert, one of the members of the research team at Griffith University in Australia, told BBC News that the discovery sheds new light on creativity during human evolution.
“The painting tells a complex story. It is the oldest evidence we have of storytelling. “It shows that humans of the time had the ability to think in abstract terms,” he stated.
Researchers from Griffith University, Southern Cross University and Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency published their findings in the journal Nature. The samples of the work of art were taken in 2017but they were not dated until earlier this year.
What is the oldest figurative painting in the world?
Taking its title from a 45,500-year-old image of a wild pig in a Leang Tedongnge cave, the world’s oldest figurative painting depicts three therianthropes (human-animal hybrids) and a wild pig.
There are some examples of paintings in Spain -in Cantabria, Andalusia and Extremadura- which, according to scientists, have more than 64,000 years. However, the findings are controversial and widely rejected, as it is unclear how the researchers took the samples and dated them.
The latest discovery in Indonesia has been dated to a new method that consists of taking small samples with a laser of the layers of calcium carbonate that have formed on the work of art. This allows scientists to focus on specific parts of the painting and establish a more precise dating.
What does the image show?
The image consists of a wild pig with mouth partially open. The largest human figure has its arms outstretched and holds a staff. The second, standing before the pig, also appears to be holding a stick and pointing it at the animal’s throat. The third figure appears to be face down with one hand directed towards the pig’s head.
Adam Brumm, a researcher at Griffith University who co-led the project, explained that warty pigs were common subjects in other works of art from the region. “It was evident Economic importance for this elite,” he told ‘The Guardian’. “We can see that they were also important to them symbolically and perhaps even spiritually.”
However the meaning of works of art remains inaccurate and it is not clear which animals were used in human-animal hybrids.
A picture is worth a thousand words
The figurative presentation of the painting makes it the oldest example of “illustrated history”. Archaeologists have found geometric art in the rocks of the Blombos Caves in southern Africa, dating back between 75,000 and 100,000 years ago. But this new finding shows representative art.
Adhi Agus Oktaviana, who led the research, says that this form of storytelling was key to early human culture in Indonesia.
“It is likely that Humans told stories more than 51,200 years agobut since words do not fossilize, we can only rely on indirect data, such as artistic representations of scenes, and the art of Sulawesi is the oldest evidence known to archaeology,” he explains to the ‘BBC’.
He dating method It was also used in the art of a nearby cave, Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4, and was found to be 48,000 years old, 4,000 years older than previously thought.
