The discovery of a cave painting on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, dated to at least 51,200 years ago, has been identified as one of the oldest known scenes created by humans. This significant finding, published in the journal Nature, suggests that humans were capable of storytelling in the distant past. The painting depicts three humanoid figures and a pig, indicating a narrative that involves the interaction between these characters.
Professor Adam Brumm, an author of the study and an archaeologist at Griffith University’s Australian Research Center for Human Evolution, believes that storytelling played a crucial role in human evolution and may have contributed to our species’ success. However, finding evidence for it in early cave art is exceptionally rare.
The residents of Sulawesi around 50,000 B.C. were particularly fond of painting pigs, with the species, known as the Celebes warty pig, being depicted frequently in cave art. The elevated position of the cave where the painting was found suggests it may have been a special place for painting or for some other unique practice.
The site of the discovery is significant, as it has been a hotspot for cave painting discoveries in recent years. Previous finds on Sulawesi were dated to between 40,000 and 44,000 years old, making this new finding the oldest known surviving evidence for imaginative storytelling in the use of scenes in art. There are at least 300 cave and shelter art sites preserved in the area, many of which have not been closely studied.
The research team, co-led by the Indonesian National Research and Innovation Agency and Australia’s Griffith University and Southern Cross University, used a new method of dating by analyzing accumulated layers of calcium carbonate on top of the painting. They also revised the date for a 44,000-year-old work to closer to 48,000.
The oldest known cave paintings in the world were made by Neanderthals, approximately 65,000 years ago. These paintings, found in modern-day Spain, include handprints, lines, and shapes, predating the arrival of modern humans on the continent by at least 20 millennia. The famous cave art at Lascaux, France, is dated to a maximum age of about 21,000 years.
