The oldest known figurative work in the world has been discovered in an Indonesian cave: an endearing image of a wolf pig.
Archaeologists working at the site on Cell Island said rock art was at least 45,500 years old. It is also believed to be the oldest surviving image of an animal. Painted with a red ocher pigment, the animal appears to observe a fight or social interaction between two other wart pigs.
Painted with red ocher, the scene shows a wart pig watching as other wart pigs fight or interact in a different way. Credit: Basran Burhan
Previously, it was believed that the oldest known rock art first appeared in Europe 40,000 years ago, showing abstract symbols. 35,000 years ago, art became more sophisticated, showing horses and other animals.
These latest discoveries in Indonesia have challenged the long-held belief that artistic expression – and the cognitive leap that may have accompanied it – began in Europe. Indonesian cave paintings give new light to the first history of mankind.
The study’s co-author, Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist and associate professor at Griffith University in Australia, which specializes in rock art dating, said the view was “Eurocentric”.
It is now believed that the ability to create figurative art – which refers to the real world – arose before Homo sapiens emigrated out of Africa and to Europe and Asia more than 60,000 years ago or that it arose more than once as humans spread the balloon.
Rock art quotes
One reason for this could be because it is particularly difficult to date rock art, Aubert explained. However, rock art made in limestone caves can sometimes be dated by measuring the radioactive decay of elements such as uranium within calcium carbonate deposits (sometimes called popcorn) that form from natural shape on the surface of the cave.
This was the case at the Leang Tedongnge site in southern Sulawesi, where a small cavernous popcorn had formed at the back foot of the pig figure after painting it. The date indicates the scene had been painted before 45,500 years ago, Aubert said, and rock art could be much older.
A second image of a Sulawesi wart pig, from another cave in the region, was dated at least 32,000 years ago using the same method. in the study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.
A second representation of a wartime pig in another cave was dated at least 32,000 years ago. Credit: AA Octavian
The team hopes that future research in eastern Indonesia will lead to the discovery of much older rock art and other archaeological evidence, dating back at least 65,000 years.
“We have found and documented many images of rock art in Sulawesi that are still awaiting scientific citations. We hope that the first rock art on this island will produce even more significant discoveries,” said the study’s co-author and Indonesian rock art expert. , Adhi Agus Oktaviana, PhD student at Griffith University.
Steep limestone cliffs enclose the limestone cave where the painting was found. The cave is only accessible by a narrow passage in the dry season. Credit: AA Octavian
Prehistoric Picasso
The researchers relied on the image of a warty pig, which is shown in profile and is filled with irregular patterns of painted lines and dashes, due to the presence of pointed head crests and facial warts, both visible protrusions and horn-like. upper snout area.
The pig painted on the roof of the cave is 187 centimeters (6 feet) long and 110 centimeters (3.6 feet) high and has a red or purple color; prehistoric artists used iron-rich rock as a pigment and used two colors. Investigators said there are three other pigs on the scene.
The researchers relied on the image of a wart pig because of the two conspicuous, horn-like protrusions in the area of the upper snout. Credit: AA Octavian
Warty pigs are still common in Indonesia and have since been domesticated.
Not much is known about the people who made the art, Aubert said.
Research has indicated that Homo sapiens arrived in Southeast Asia between 60,000 and 70,000 years ago. Although the researchers said they are not able to definitively conclude that the artwork is the work of cognitively modern humans, this was the most likely explanation.
“Our species must have crossed Wallacea on jet skis to reach Australia at least 65,000 years ago,” Aubert said, referring to the region between mainland Asia and Australia.
“However, the Wallachian islands are little explored and currently the first archaeological evidence excavated from this region is much younger in age.”
“This discovery underscores the remarkable antiquity of Indonesian rock art and its great importance in understanding the history of art in deep time and its role in the history of mankind,” said the co-author of the study, Adam Brumm, Professor at the Australian Research Center for Human Evolution in Griffith.