40,000 years old Cave Art found at an Indonesian cave, the oldest ever found in Asia, raises questions about early mankind. Image © Kinez Riza
Cave art found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, has been radiocarbon-dated to 40,000 years old, are almost as old as those found in Europe, include animal drawings and hand stencils.
A fragmented painting of a pig-deer or babirusa (Babyrousa sp.) and hand stencil from one of the caves in Sulawesi, Indonesia.
The discovery on the island of Sulawesi vastly expands the geography of the first cave artists, who were long thought to have appeared in prehistoric Europe around that time.
Archaeologists reported that the hand painted in the Indonesian cave, is among the oldest such images in the world. Credit: Kinez Riza
Reported in the journal Nature the cave art includes stencils of hands and a painting of a babirusa.
Archaeologist and study leader Maxime Aubert of Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, said:
“Overwhelmingly depicted in Europe and Sulawesi were large, and often dangerous, mammal species that possibly played major roles in the belief systems of these people.”
source journal Nature
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