World’s Oldest Cave Painting Shows Three Human Like Figures Interacting With Wild Pig

(Photo : Getty Images/JOEL SAGET)

Scientists from Australia and Indonesia have found the oldest known example of figurative cave art on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

At least 51,200 years old, the painting featuring three human-like figures and a wild pig predates the previous oldest cave art by more than 5,000 years.

Storytelling In Art

The researchers employed a new scientific method to ascertain the minimum age of the recently revealed painting inside the Leang Karampuang cave in the South Sulawesi province's Maros-Pangkep region.

They did this by dating a particular kind of crystal called calcium carbonate that spontaneously formed on top of the painting using a laser.

According to Maxime Aubert, the study's co-author and specialist in archaeological science at Griffith University in Australia, the method represents a significant step forward from current methods and has the potential to be a game changer in rock art dating worldwide.

A 36-by-15-inch (92 by 38 cm) pig standing straight with three smaller humanoid figures dominates a single tone of dark red color in the painting. There are additional pictures of pigs inside the cave

It looks as though the largest figure among human figures there holds onto a staff, stretching out its two arms. On the other hand, the second figure looks smaller compared to the first and it seems to have its head near the snout while holding some type of staff whose one end may touch the pig's throat. Besides, the last humanoid seems to have been turned upside down; its legs are open wide and it is lying flat facing towards the sky; with its palm touching the pig head.

According to the scholars, the painting represents the first known instance of storytelling in art history, since it depicts a narrative scene.

"The three human-like figures and the pig figure were clearly not depicted in isolation in separate parts of the rock art panel," said Griffith University archeologist Adam Brumm, another of the study leaders.

Oldest Cave Painting

The names of the artists who were behind the creation of the Sulawesi cave paintings are rarely disclosed. Aubert has said that these paintings' ages could easily precede the latest available data's lower limit - they might have been originated by Homo sapiens first appearing on our planet other than Africa, disperse through Sulawesi and finally land on Australia approximately 65 thousand years ago.

The cave art in Leang Tedongnge cave, also in Sulawesi, which dates back at least 45,500 years, is currently the oldest known cave painting.

According to the experts, the artwork at Leang Karampuang predates European cave paintings, the oldest of which is located at El Castillo in Spain and dates back around 40,800 years.

A hand stencil painting from the Maltravieso cave in Spain has been linked to Neanderthals by some scientists, who date it to approximately 64,000 years ago. Some scientists contend that the painting was made by Homo sapiens and have questioned the mural's age.

Experts said that the fact that extremely ancient cave paintings have been found in Indonesia serves as further evidence that cave art did not originate in Europe, as was previously believed.

Additionally, it implies that storytelling was a far more ancient aspect of human history than was previously thought, particularly the history of art.