Eat your eyes with what seems to be the oldest fabricated metaphor: a doodle of a big fat pig. This fat-pig cave painting discovered on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi painted in reddish-purple pigment in the limestone karsts of Maros-Pangkep. In addition to the main pig painting, the cave contains two partially complete pigs that can seen facing each other, as well as four painted hand stencils. In a new study, archaeologists have used dating technology with this prehistoric artwork and concluded that it was created at least 45,500 years ago, making it the oldest symbolic cave painting ever discovered by modern humans.
“I was blown away when I first saw this art,” Adam Broom, a leading author and professor of archeology at Griffith University in Australia, told IFLScience. “The three wild pigs depicted in the artwork seem to be somehow involved in social interaction as these distinct figures form a single descriptive composition or ‘scene’ which is very unusual to find in the early cave art.” Fascinated me,” he added.
Broome explained that the site first discovered in December by Basran Burhan, an Indonesian archaeologist from the Konjo-speaking community in South Sulawesi and co-author of the research by a PhD student at Griffith University. Never before has the cave industry been noticed. The discovery of the new discovery published today in the journal Science Advances. Known as Leang Tedongnge painting, the painting depicts a Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis), a species of wild boar found on the island, and the painting, known for its face, measures 136 centimeters by 54 centimeters (54 inches by 21 inches). , It is almost the actual size of the animal.
It has declared as a metaphorical work of art because it is a clear depiction of something in the real world as opposed to an abstract concept or pattern. The world’s first record holder is a picture of wild cattle found in a cave in Borneo, thought to be about 40,000 years old. Although Leang Tedongnge painting now considered the oldest, researchers argue that there is no reason to believe that its unique and similar artwork probably exists in a wide area.
The skill of creating works of art considered a major milestone in the story of humankind because it demonstrates extraordinary ability for complex and abstract thinking. In the past, many explanations of how these behavioral and cognitive features originated focused on Europe, where the archaeological record shows an explosion of cave art and fascinating works of art almost 40,000 years later. This new discovery helps to challenge and refine this old narrative, showing that perhaps these remarkable artistic traditions evolved long before Europe.
“In my opinion, our new discovery adds weight to the view that the origins of the first cave art developed by our species probably did not originate in Europe as long as it was thought, but during the human journey, probably in Asia or somewhere in Africa where Homo sapiens evolved. Probably,”Broom said.
