The world’s oldest known illustrated tale has been discovered in a cave in Indonesia.
The painting, which depicts three human-like figures interacting with a wild pig, was discovered in a limestone cave called Leang Karampuang on the island of Sulawesi, and is at least 51,200 years old, archaeologists say.
The international team of scientists, which included researchers from Australia’s Griffith University, published their exciting findings in the journal Nature Wednesday.
“Humans have probably been telling stories for much longer than 51,200 years, but because words don’t fossilize, we can only rely on indirect approximations like depictions of scenes in art – and the art from Sulawesi is now by far the oldest evidence of this type known to archaeology,” said Indonesian rock art expert Adhi Agus Oktaviana, who led the team.
The team used a new technique, known as laser ablation U-series (LA-U-series), to date tiny layers of calcium carbonate that had formed on top of the artwork to determine how long ago it was created.
Oktaviana called the results “very surprising.”
“None of the famous works of art from the European Ice Age are as old as this, with the exception of a few controversial discoveries in Spain, and this is the first time that the dates of rock art in Indonesia have been pushed back beyond 50,000 years,” he said.
The team also used the new technique on a painting in the nearby Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4 cave in Maros Pangkep, a UNESCO Global Geopark.
They found that it was about 4,000 years older than previously thought, and would now be at least 48,000 years old instead of 44,000.
This painting depicted half-human, half-animal beings, with warty pigs and dwarf buffaloes.
