January 14, 2021

Andrew Campbell 

A research article on anthropology "Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi" was published on January 13 in the journal Science Advances. The lead author Adam Brumm from the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute at Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, and other archaeologists have discovered a cave painting of a wild pig at Leang Tedongnge in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, which was traced back to at least 45,500 years ago.

The cave painting was found in 2017 as a team of archaeologists was carrying out surveys with Indonesian authorities on the island of Sulawesi. The Sulawesi warty pig was painted with the characteristics of an adult male of the species in a life-size measuring 136 by 54 centimeters (53 by 21 inches) using dark red ochre pigment. The figure has shown a short crest of upright hair and a pair of horn-like facial warts.

The archaeologists undertook dating of the cave painting by means of Uranium-series (U-series) isotope analysis of associated calcium carbonate deposits. According to the conclusion described in the research article, the results of U-series dating determined a minimum age of 45,500 years for the large figurative painting at Leang Tedongnge.

Wallacea is known a region bridging Asia and Australia that humans had crossed the islands of Indonesia and reached Australia 65,000 years ago. In 2018, on the walls of Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave in the rainforests of Indonesian Borneo, a wild cattle-like painting was found and dated about 40,000 years old. In addition, a cave painting of a buffalo and pig hunt was unveiled in Sulawesi in 2019 which dated it to 44,000 years ago. These cave paintings help our understanding of prehistoric human migrations in the islands of Wallacea.

Photo:Webshot.