Archaeology & History

Indonesia rock art dates back 40,000 years

By T.K. Randall
October 9, 2014

Image: Cro-Magnon Artists Painting Woolly Mammoths in Font-de-Gaume
Credit: Charles Robert Knight (1920) / (PD) Copyright Expired Known as the Sulawesi paintings, the prehistoric images were discovered some years ago inside limestone caves in Indonesia's Maros and Pangkep regions.

The drawings, which include depictions of animals and hand stencils created by spraying red pigment on to the rock face, have been analyzed using sophisticated new dating techniques and are now believed to date back at least 40,000 years.The discovery is particularly important because it shows that primitive forms of artistic expression were not exclusive to the people living in Europe at the time.

"Cave painting and related forms of artistic expression were most likely part of the cultural traditions of the first modern humans to spread out of Africa and into Asia and Australia, long before they reached Europe," said study co-author Adam Brunn.


Source: NBC News

Tags: Rock Art, Indonesia, Europe