[ad_1]
A 40,000-year-old painting depicting a mysterious, wild, cow-like beast discovered in a cave in Borneo is the oldest human drawing of an animal ever recorded, according to a new study.
The discovery indicates that figurative rock art – one of the most important innovations of human culture – has not started as many scientists thought, but rather in Southeast Asia at during the last ice age, the researchers said.
Drawing animals, an achievement in itself, may have been used as an entryway to illustrate other aspects of the human experience, including hunting and dancing. "Originally, humans painted figurative large animals and then they began to represent the human world," said associate researcher Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist and geochemist at Griffith University in Australia. [In Photos: The World’s Oldest Cave Art]
The ancient works of art cover the limestone cave walls isolated from the rugged and remote mountains of East Kalimantan Province, in the Indonesian state of Borneo. Researchers have known these man-made designs since 1994, but they did not know when the illustrations were created, said Aubert, who worked with the National Center for Research in Archeology (ARKENAS) and the Bandung Institute of Technology. (ITB) of Indonesia. .
The researchers collected calcium carbonate samples from the Kalimantan Cave drawings to date uranium series – a technique made possible by radioactive decay. When rainwater seeps into the limestone, it dissolves a small amount of uranium, Aubert explained to Live Science. When uranium (a radioactive element) decays, it turns into the element thorium. By studying the uranium / thorium ratio in the calcium carbonate (limestone) that covers the cave art, the researchers determined the age of the initial coating, he said.
This cow-like animal is the oldest figurative art known in the world. He is at least 40,000 years old.
Credit: Luc-Henri Fage
The oldest figurative art – the mysterious animal that is probably a species of wild cattle that once trampled around the Borneo jungle – was at least 40,000 years old, said Aubert. Previously, the oldest known animal painting in the world was a babirusa, or "deer pig", about 35,400 years old, located on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, he said.
Work through the ages
The results of the team showed that the ancient art of East Kalimantan had been realized during three distinct periods. The first phase, which dates back to 52,000 to 40,000 years ago, includes hand stencils and animals drawn by red-orange ochres, mainly banteng (Bos javanicus), a type of wild cattle that still lives in Borneo, and the mysterious wild cow unknown, said Aubert.
A major change occurred in the culture during the last glacial maximum about 20,000 years ago, which led to a new style of rock art, focused on the human world. Artists in this phase favored a dark purple color and hand-painted stencils, abstract signs and human-like characters, wearing sophisticated headdresses and engaging in various activities, such as hunting or ritual dance. , the researchers said.
"We do not know if these [different types of cave art] We are planning archaeological excavations in these caves to find more information about these unknown artists. "
These ripe hands were painted on the ancient red stencils of the Indonesian cave. Both styles were created at least 20,000 years apart.
Credit: Kinez Riza
The final phase of rock art includes characters, boats and geometric patterns resembling humans, drawn mainly with black pigments, the researchers said. This type of art is found elsewhere in Indonesia and could come from Asian Neolithic farmers who settled in the area about 4,000 years ago, or more recently, according to the researchers. [Photos: Oldest Known Drawing Was Made with a Red Crayon]
Place, place
During the last ice age, Borneo (the third largest island on Earth) was located in the far east of Eurasia.
"It now seems that two first provinces of rock art appeared at the same time in remote areas of Paleolithic Eurasia: one in Europe and one in Indonesia at the opposite of this glacial world. ", explained researcher Adam Brumm, collaborator. professor of archeology at Griffith University, said in a statement.
It is possible that rock art has spread from Eurasia to Sulawesi, where lies the drawing of babirusa, before colonizing humans spreads further to places like Australia, explained Aubert.
These human figures are at least 13 600 years old. It is possible that they shot to the height of the last glacial maximum, about 20,000 years ago.
Credit: Pindi Setiawan
The new discovery shows new evidence that "the oldest art consisted of large animals painted in a remarkably naturalistic style, emphasizing musculature and body shape of the animal" , said Susan O. Connor, professor of archeology at the College of Asia. & the Pacific at the Australian National University, which did not participate in the research.
"The location of these ancient animal paintings and stencils by hand marks perhaps the passage of early modern humans as they were crossing continental Asia and heading to the islands." Wallacea, located between the mainland and the Sahul continent (Australia at this time, "said O & Connor to Live Science in an email." They may have used the art to mark and "humanize" those new and unknown landscapes. "
The newly dated rock art corresponds to the new image of early humans. Homo sapiens Christopher Henshilwood, director of the Center for Early Sapiens, left Africa between 70,000 and 60,000 years ago, and "once dispersed in Eurasia, they developed the desire (or the ability) to produce food." figurative art ". Behavior at the University of Bergen in Norway, who did not participate in the study, told Live Science in an email. "This discovery in Indonesia therefore adds to our knowledge of the evolution of figurative art, perhaps first in Asia, then in Europe and Africa. (The oldest figurative art of Africa was erected about 30,000 years ago at Apollo 11 Cave in Namibia, Henshilwood noted.)
The study was published online today (November 7) in the journal Nature.
Originally posted on Live Science.
[ad_2]
Source link
