Cave paintings are a tremendous component of our world’s and planet’s history. In discovering them, historians and anthropologists have been able to gain a better understanding of events that occurred in the past, as well as a firmer comprehension of the people responsible for painting these creations on the walls of caves.
While I certainly haven’t been fortunate enough to unveil a cave painting myself, I’m always interested in reading about these forms of art whenever they’re discovered. And, as it turns out, the world’s oldest cave painting was recently discovered within a cave in Indonesia, says an article from The Good News Network.
“Scientists from Griffith University have discovered the world’s oldest known cave painting on a limestone wall on South Sulawesi island in Indonesia.
“Dated to a remarkable 45,500 years ago, the painting is of a Sulawesi warty pig, a species hunted and depicted often in Sulawesi cave art from the Last Glacial Period.
“The discovery definitively knocks out Europe and establishes that the Indo-Pacific is the center of the first-known developments in artistic expression and perhaps even story-telling.
“Measuring 53 inches by 21 inches (136cm by 54cm), the pig is accompanied by two human handprints just above its hindquarters, and a pair of pigs off to the right which are only partially visible,” the article says.
The location of this particular cave in Indonesia is as significant as the art found within it, the article explains.
“With the island of Sulawesi holding the oldest discovered surviving rock art on Earth, science can begin to color in more accurate hypotheses about the migration of humans across the vast swath of islands we call Oceania, but 45,000 years ago is described as ‘Wallacea’.”
It is mind-blowing to acknowledge that discoveries like this one are still occurring so many years later, and I hope there are many more waiting to be unearthed.
ontheedgeofeverything 
so interesting
LikeLike
Agreed! Thank you for reading. 🙂
LikeLike