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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Narrative cave art in Indonesia by 51,200 years ago
Nature (London), Vol.631(8022), pp.814-818
25/07/2024
PMID: 38961284
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Source: InCites
Abstract
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.
Details
- Title
- Narrative cave art in Indonesia by 51,200 years ago
- Creators
- Adhi Agus OktavianaRenaud Joannes-BoyauBudianto HakimBasran BurhanRatno SardiShinatria AdhityatamaHamrullahIwan SumantriM. TangRustan LebeImran IlyasAbdullah AbbasAndi JusdiDewangga Eka MahardianSofwan NoerwidiMarlon N. R. RirimasseIrfan MahmudAkin DuliLaode M. AksaDavid McGahanPindi SetiawanAdam BrummMaxime Aubert
- Publication Details
- Nature (London), Vol.631(8022), pp.814-818
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Number of pages
- 17
- Grant note
- LE200100022 / Australian Research Council Southern Cross University NGS-72460R-20 / National Geographic Society Google Arts Culture DP220100462 / ARC Discovery Project; Australian Research Council Griffith University; Griffith University - Gold Coast Campus FT170100025; FT160100119; LE200100022 / Australian Research Council (ARC); Australian Research Council
- Identifiers
- 991013206811802368
- Copyright
- Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article