The painting of a wild pig, discovered on the wall of an inaccessible cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and dating back at least 45,500 years, perhaps thousands of years earlier, is the oldest cave painting of an animal in the world and, in general, the oldest representational cave painting found to date. In 2019, the same scientific team had discovered in another location on the same island the oldest cave painting to date, at least 43,900 years old. In the future, researchers hope to discover even more ancient cave paintings in Sulawesi.
Painted in dark red ocher, the life-size painting in Leang Tendong Cave in a remote valley on the island, an hour's walk from the nearest road, appears to be part of a narrative of a larger scene, including two other pigs, only partially preserved. These short-legged wild boars, which still survive as a species, have been the prime target of hunters on the Indonesian island for thousands of years.
As reported by members of the local isolated Bugis community, it is the first time that Western eyes have seen the picture with the animals in the cave. But even the locals didn't know about the existence of the cave until 2017, when it was discovered. The researchers, led by Maxim Aubert of Australia's Griffith University, made the relevant publication in the journal "Science Advances", according to the BBC, the AFP and the "New York Times".
The creators of the painted image are unknown. It is possible - but not certain - that the painting was made by Homo sapiens. As Aubert said, "the people who painted it were thoroughly modern, like us, with all the skill and tools to paint what they pleased." The image of the male pig has a size of 136 by 54 centimeters, i.e. a length of almost one and a half meters, while near it are the colored prints of two human hands, from which scientists will try to extract samples of ancient DNA.
"The discovery strengthens the evidence that the first modern cave art by humans did not appear during the Ice Age in Europe, as long thought, but much earlier," noted archaeologist Adam Broom of Griffith University. The painting is the oldest in the world in the form of an animal, but not the oldest made by man. This is a drawing found in South Africa that is about 73,000 years old. It is unclear when human ancestors arrived in Indonesia and the other islands of Southeast Asia. After the mass "exodus" from Africa, past migrants are estimated to have crossed these islands in some way and arrived in Australia around 65,000 years ago.
SOURCE:APE-ME