TO CLOSE

Deep in the jungle of Borneo, scientists have discovered the world's oldest paintings in ancient caves.
Buzz60

The oldest figurative work in the world, discovered in Borneo, is at least 40,000 years old.(Photo: Luc-Henri Fage)

The world's oldest known rock painting on an animal was discovered in Borneo, Indonesia. It goes back at least 40,000 years, a new study said.

The drawing is even older than the famous animal pictures found in France and Spain. He was spotted in an isolated cave by a team of Australian and Indonesian archaeologists.

"The oldest rock art image that we have dated is a large painting depicting an unidentified animal, probably a species of wild cattle still found in the jungles of Borneo," said the main author of the Study, Maxime Aubert, archaeologist and geochemist at Griffith University, Australia. A declaration. "It's now about the oldest known figurative artwork."

According to Science magazine, the paintings are more than 4000 years older than previous Sulawesi record holders nearby.

The meaning of the animal is unknown, said Aubert. "We think it was not just food for them – it meant something special."

In addition to the animal drawing, which is about 5 feet wide, scientists also found stencils in the hands of red and purple colors and rock paintings depicting human scenes. It is known that these remote caves of Borneo contain prehistoric drawings since the 1990s.

Paintings of characters have been discovered in a cave in East Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia. Figures were taken from 13,600 to 20,000 years ago. (Photo: Pindi Setiawan)

This discovery adds to the growing belief that rock art – one of the most important innovations in the cultural history of mankind – is only one of many. It has not been manifested for a long time in Europe and artists from Southeast Asia have played a key role in its development. The researchers said that humans began to create art in caves at a similar time in remote corners of the ice age world.

"Whether it is a coincidence, the result of cultural convergence in very separate regions, large-scale migrations of a separate Eurasian population, or another cause remains unknown," the study said.

Another author of the study, Adhi Agus Oktaviana, expert in rock art, said that "new discoveries show that the history of rock art creation is complex."

However, "who are the artists of the Borneo Ice Age and what happened to them is a mystery," noted the study's co-author, Pindi Setiawan, an Indonesian archaeologist.

The study was published Wednesday in the UK peer-reviewed journal Nature.

Contribute: The Associated Press

Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/11/07/cave-art-worlds-oldest-paintings-animals-discovered-borneo/1922195002/