Australian archaeologists have discovered the oldest rock art known to mankind, and the prehistoric painting of a shaggy pig and three stick figures may also be the oldest depiction of a story.
Scientists used a new dating method to analyze nodules of calcium carbonate that have solidified over paint inside a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The art they discovered is at least 51,200 years old.
“The painting is a narrative composition, a composite scene, depicting three human-like figures interacting with a pig, so it is the first identified evidence for the use of narrative in art,” said Adam Brumm, professor of archeology at Griffith University and co-author of the Nature document reporting the findings.
The same research team challenged Europe as the custodian of the world's oldest rock art in 2014 by revealing that cave paintings in Sulawesi were at least 40,000 years old, rivaling the age of charcoal drawings in Spain and France.
They are now certain that this cave painting is by far the oldest art ever discovered. This is three times the age of Australia's oldest rock painting, a 17,300-year-old red ocher kangaroo in the Kimberley.
Another significant cave painting from Sulawesi that the researchers analyzed depicts a group of “theriatropes,” which are figures that combine animal and human characteristics.
Members of the research team (from left to right) Maxime Aubert, Budianto Hakim, Adam Brumm and Adhi Agus Oktaviana.Credit: Sardi rat
At least 48,000 years ago, ancient artists drew these humans and added what appear to be beaks and tails, leaving behind some of the oldest evidence of creativity.
“Archaeologists are very interested in depictions of therianthropes because it provides evidence of the ability to imagine the existence of a supernatural being, something that does not exist in real life,” Brumm said.
