According to a study, titled, Oldest Cave Art Found in Sulawesi, published in the journal Science Advances, on January 13, 2021, an archaeological survey, conducted in 2017 by a team of researchers and led by Basran Burhan (co-author of the research study) in the valleys of Sulawesi Island of Indonesia, a 45,500-year-old life-sized rock painting of a wild pig was found on the walls inside the Leang Tedongnge cave. This is thought to be the oldest figurative art ever discovered. Leang Tedongnge is a cave located in the hidden valleys of Sulawesi, 40 miles away from Makassar in a valley enclosed by steep cliffs. The narrow passage that leads to this cave is inaccessible during the wet season due to floods. Previously, this site had not been visited by westerners as it is difficult to reach.
The Painting
The painting that depicts a wild pig, made with red ochre pigment, which appears to be observing a fight or social interaction between two other warty pigs. It shows a “short crest of upright hairs” and a pair of ‘facial warts’ (that look like horns) in front of the eyes. These features are common to the warty pigs that have been found in Sulawesi since tens of thousands of years.
According to the study, this is the world’s oldest surviving cave art and the oldest representational image of an animal. As per the co-author of the study, Professor Maxim Aubert, a calcium carbonate deposit (also known as cave popcorn) which formed on the foot of one of the pig figures was used for dating this painting. This technique of dating is known as uranium-series dating. However, the painting could be older as uranium-series dating only determines the age of the mineral deposit formed on the cave walls.
The painting of pigs was most common in the ice age rock art of Indonesian islands. The study suggests that these pigs were being hunted and consumed by people since long and were a focus of creative thinking and artistic expression. Whether these paintings were painted by Homo sapiens or some other extinct human species is not yet known.
Other Findings in Sulawesi Island
The Indonesian islands (the Wallacean archipelago), including Sulawesi, were inhabited by different species of hominids (the family of human beings) over long periods of time. The earliest dated rock art from this region was a figurative painting of a Sulwesi warty pig (sus celebensis) from Leang Bulu Sipong in the limestone karsts of Maros-Pangkep, about 43,900 years ago. The second image from Leang Balangajia dates to at least 32,000 years ago in Sulawesi. In a nearby limestone cave site, a rock art scene was also found depicting half-animal and half-human beings, hunting Sulawesi wild pigs and bovines. This painting was at least 43,900 years old and it was considered as the world’s oldest art work. Apart from these, many other rock art images have been documented in Sulawesi that are yet to be dated. These paintings are expected to lead to more significant discoveries in the future.
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