According to new research, an Indonesian cave painting of a prehistoric hunting scene could be the world’s oldest figurative artwork, dating back nearly 44,000 years and pointing to an advanced artistic culture.
According to the study posted in Nature on Wednesday, the painting, which was discovered nearly two years ago on the island of Sulawesi, is 4.5 metres wide (13 feet long) and features wild animals being chased by half-human hunters holding what appears to be spears and ropes. Australia’s Griffith University used data technology to analyse the painting and have confirmed that the limestone cave painting can be traced back as far as at least 43,900 years to the Upper Paleolithic period. Speaking about the painting, the researchers said “This hunting scene is — to our knowledge — currently the oldest pictorial record of storytelling and the earliest figurative artwork in the world,” The painting was discovered right after the discovery of another painting depicting an animal in a cave on the Indonesian island of Borneo, which upon discovery was said to be almost 40,000 years old. For decades, it was assumed that cave art emerged from European countries but the recent findings in Indonesia seem to be challenging that assumption. In Sulawesi alone, there are at least 242 caves or shelters with ancient imagery. In the latest dated scene, hunters are depicted in dark red colours with human bodies and the heads of animals including birds and reptiles. The painting, which is in poor condition, suggests that a highly advanced artistic culture existed some 44,000 years ago, punctuated by folklore, religious myths and spiritual belief, the team said. “(The scene) may be regarded not only as the earliest dated figurative art in the world but also as the oldest evidence for the communication of a narrative in Palaeolithic art,” researchers said. “This is noteworthy, given that the ability to invent fictional stories may have been the last and most crucial stage in the evolutionary history of human language and the development of modern-like patterns of cognition.” Keep up to date with more news at ProperGaanda: Nobel laureate and Myanmar leader defends Muslim genocide in UN court