According to a study published in the journal Nature, researchers have determined that the world’s oldest known figurative cave painting is 51,200 years old using a new dating technique.
Figurative cave painting
- This study has been done by 23 researchers from Griffith University in Australia, Southern Cross University and the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency.
- This study has been published under the title ‘Narrative Cave Art in Indonesia by 51,200 Years Ago’.
Painting
- Location: Located in the Layang Karampuang cave on the island of South Sulawesi, Indonesia
- Subject of the painting: A red wild boar with a partially open mouth
- Three parts human and one part stick-like animal figure or Therianthrope.
- Characteristics: The human-like figures are depicted in relation to the pig, giving it a sense of dynamic action
- There is actually something happening in this artwork, i.e. there is a plot.
- Significance: The origins of figurative depictions of anthropomorphic figures and animals go deeper into the history of modern human (Homo sapiens) image-making than has been recognized till date.
- This painting is more than 5,000 years older than the previous oldest cave art (wild boar painting) discovered in 2021 in Leang Tedongge, Indonesia.
What is the new dating technique
- The discovery is based on dating using uranium series (U-series) analysis of calcite deposits above rock paintings in limestone caves.
- Laser beams were used during the process and by comparing the ratio between the parent isotope (uranium) and daughter isotope (thorium), the researchers were able to date the paintings.
- Using the same method, the researchers also dated another hunting scene on a cave painting at Liang Bulu Sipong 4.
- This method enables a clear relationship between the calcium carbonate material used for dating and the rock painting pigment layer/layers to be more easily demonstrated.
Sulawesi Island
- Naming: The name Sulawesi is probably derived from the words sula (island) and besi (iron).
- It refers to the historic export of iron from Lake Matano, which is rich in iron deposits.
- The island is one of the four Greater Sunda Islands and the 11th largest island in the world.
- Location: To the east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands and south of Mindanao and the Sulu Islands
- The Makassar Strait lies along the western coast of the island.
- Characteristics: The central part of the island is rugged and mountainous, while the peninsular part of the island is traditionally isolated from each other
- It is better connectedby sea than by road.