©Unsplash
Dating back 67,800 years, the oldest cave painting has just been found in a cave on the island of Sulawesi in what is now Indonesia. It depicts neither animals nor hunting scenes, but... the outline of a human hand. A simple, almost intimate gesture that has survived the passage of time to reach us today.
The discovery was made in the Liang Metanduno cave, a site already known to archaeologists for its extremely ancient artistic testimonies and representations. The pigments were dated with the utmost precision by an international team led by Maxime Aubert from Griffith University in Australia. The results have been published in the scientific journal Nature, confirming the exceptional importance of the discovery.
More than just a handprint
At first glance, it might appear to be an ordinary handprint, but the researchers indicate that it's a stencil, created by blowing pigment around a hand placed on the rock. What makes this discovery so special? The drawing seems to have been modified afterwards, with the fingers having been refined to give the impression of a clawed hand.
According to the researchers, the painting could represent a very ancient idea of the link between humans and animals, a theme already present in other works of rock art discovered on Sulawesi. In some of the island's caves, there are hybrid figures, half-animal and half-human, suggesting a symbolic imagination that is surprisingly complex for such a remote period.
Sulawesi, a living archive of the oldest art in the world
This find didn't come out of nowhere: it was precisely in Sulawesi, in the Leang Tedongnge cave, that other cave paintings dating back some 45,000 years were identified in 2017, previously considered to be the oldest ever found. This record has now been beaten by more than 20,000 years, definitively shifting the centre of prehistoric art from Europe to South-East Asia.
Analyses carried out on all the paintings in the Liang Metanduno cave indicate that the site had been used for artistic activities for an extremely long period, at least 35,000 years, until around 20,000 years ago, suggesting a continuous, deep-rooted and incredibly durable artistic culture.
Migration and climate change
Over and above its cultural value, the oldest cave painting provides valuable clues about the movements of the first human populations. During the Ice Age, when sea levels were much lower than they are today, Sulawesi would have been one of the key crossing points for migrations to the south and east.
The authors of these paintings would probably have been among the populations who, over thousands of years, reached Australia by crossing the Sahul, the ancient supercontinent that once linked Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea. This handprint on the rock is not just an artistic mark, it's a silent trace of humanity's journey.
Source: Nature
(©GreenMe.it/Managing Editor - Selma Keshkire: The Press Junction/Picture: Unsplash)