Humans are intrinsically artists. Cave paintings and hand-carved figurines found in France, Spain and Italy suggest that Homo sapiens were crafting 35-40 thousand years ago. But, up to now scientists have been puzzled by the lack of equally old art in South Asia and the Far East, where humans dwelled at the same time as their artistic European counterparts.
Now the mystery has been put to rest. Archaeologists have recently determined that a series of stencils and paintings in prehistoric caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are some of the oldest in the world, dating back nearly 40,000 years.
Located in the caves of the Maros region of the island, the paintings were first discovered in the 1950s. From human hand stencils to large paintings of native animals, the Maros cave art appears in 90 different sites.
However previous analysis determined the paintings to be recent creations — less than 10,000 years old. Researchers calculated that the limestone’s high levels of erosion caused by the harsh tropical environment would have destroyed any older artistic endeavors.
The findings, reported in Nature this week, are remarkable. One hand stencil is at least 39,900 years old, making it the oldest known hand stencil in the world. And, a painting of a “pig-deer” (Babyrousa) was created at least 35,400 years ago — one of the earliest dated figurative depictions worldwide.
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Scientists are eager to determine if the rock art tradition developed independently in the Indonesian and European regions, or if the first humans brought the tradition with them from Africa.
Answering that question may help us understand the very earliest origins of art-making in the human lineage, and shed light on how our oldest ancestors experienced the world.
Read full, original article: Prehistoric Cave Art Discovered in the Tropics
