via Nature, 03 July 2024: Boom! I was told about these new dates some weeks ago but I couldn’t share it to anyone yet. A new paper by Adhi Agus et al. using laser-ablation U-series imaging has re-dated the cave art at Maros-Pangkep, Sulawesi, to over 51,200 years ago. This makes it the earliest known example of narrative and representational art, depicting human-animal interactions, significantly predating similar European art. Congrats to the team for this brilliant discovery!
Previous dating research indicated that the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is host to some of the oldest known rock art1,2,3. That work was based on solution uranium-series (U-series) analysis of calcite deposits overlying rock art in the limestone caves of Maros-Pangkep, South Sulawesi1,2,3. Here we use a novel application of this approach—laser-ablation U-series imaging—to re-date some of the earliest cave art in this karst area and to determine the age of stylistically similar motifs at other Maros-Pangkep sites. This method provides enhanced spatial accuracy, resulting in older minimum ages for previously dated art. We show that a hunting scene from Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4, which was originally dated using the previous approach to a minimum of 43,900 thousand years ago (ka)3, has a minimum age of 50.2 ± 2.2 ka, and so is at least 4,040 years older than thought. Using the imaging approach, we also assign a minimum age of 53.5 ± 2.3 ka to a newly described cave art scene at Leang Karampuang. Painted at least 51,200 years ago, this narrative composition, which depicts human-like figures interacting with a pig, is now the earliest known surviving example of representational art, and visual storytelling, in the world3. Our findings show that figurative portrayals of anthropomorphic figures and animals have a deeper origin in the history of modern human (Homo sapiens) image-making than recognized to date, as does their representation in composed scenes.
Source: Narrative cave art in Indonesia by 51,200 years ago
See also:
- Dreamlike pig-hunting scene is the world’s oldest figurative art | Science, 03 Jul 2024
- World’s oldest cave art found showing humans and pig | BBC, 03 Jul 2024
- Found in a cave in Indonesia, we can now show the world’s oldest figurative art is 51,200 years old | The Conversation, 03 Jul 2024
- World’s oldest cave painting in Indonesia shows a pig and people | Reuters, 03 Jul 2024
- 50,000-year-old picture of a pig is the oldest known narrative art | New Scientist, 03 Jul 2024
- Mysterious 52,000-year-old image unearthed inside tropical island cave | Yahoo News, 03 Jul 2024
- A 51,200-Year-Old Cave Painting Might Be the World’s Oldest Narrative Art | Mental Floss, 03 Jul 2024
- Oldest Narrative Rock Art Discovered With Mind-Blowing Age Of 51,200 Years | IFL Science, 03 Jul 2024
- Cave painting in Indonesia is the oldest known ‘picture story’ | Griffith University, 04 Jul 2024
- Oldest example of figurative art found in Indonesian cave | The Art Newspaper, 04 Jul 2024
- 51,000-Year-Old Cave Art in Indonesia Is the World’s Oldest Figurative Art | My Modern Met, 04 Jul 2024
- Oldest picture story found in Indonesian rock art | Cosmos, 04 Jul 2024
- ‘Oldest such evidence’: Surprising discovery in Indonesian cave | News.com.au, 04 Jul 2024
- World’s oldest artwork discovered in Indonesian cave | Al Jazeera, 04 Jul 2024
- BRIN Finds 51,200-year-old Cave Paintings, The Oldest in Indonesia | Tempo, 04 Jul 2024
- 51,000-year old cave painting oldest evidence of storytelling | Al Mayadeen, 04 Jul 2024
- Indonesia: 51,200-year-old painting of pig, humans declared world’s oldest | Interesting Engineering, 04 Jul 2024
- Oldest known painting discovered in Indonesian cave | Moree Champion, 04 Jul 2024
- World record for oldest ‘picture story’ broken by discovery of Indonesian cave painting | Euro News 04 Jul 2024
- Oldest storytelling art discovered in Indonesian cave | Borneo Bulletin, 04 Jul 2024
- Oldest known picture story is a 51,000-year-old Indonesian cave painting | The Guardian, 04 Jul 2024
- A cave drawing of two humans and a pig is the world’s oldest known narrative art | CNN, 04 Jul 2024
- Indonesian Cave Painting Is Oldest-Known Visual Storytelling | The Smithsonian, 05 Jul 2024
- World’s Oldest Known Cave Painting, Featuring a Mysterious Pig, Found in Indonesia | ArtNews, 05 Jul 2024