Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia
Cave art from the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, consisting of human hand stencils and animal paintings, is at least 40,000 years old, raising the question of why rock art traditions appeared at more or less the same time at opposite ends of the Late Pleistocene human world. Ice Age art in the tro...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | Nature (London) 2014-10, Vol.514 (7521), p.223-227 |
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| creator | Aubert, M. Brumm, A. Ramli, M. Sutikna, T. Saptomo, E. W. Hakim, B. Morwood, M. J. van den Bergh, G. D. Kinsley, L. Dosseto, A. |
| description | Cave art from the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, consisting of human hand stencils and animal paintings, is at least 40,000 years old, raising the question of why rock art traditions appeared at more or less the same time at opposite ends of the Late Pleistocene human world.
Ice Age art in the tropics
New dating results challenge the traditional view that western Europe was the centre of a crucial stage in the evolution of modern human intelligence and culture — based largely on the emergence of figurative or representational art in cave paintings and sculptures around 40,000 years ago. Dating data from a series of hand stencils and paintings of wild animals from caves in the Maros karst in Sulawesi, Indonesia, suggest that figurative art appeared at more or less the same time at opposite ends of the Late Pleistocene world. Or was cave painting practised by the first
Homo sapiens
to leave Africa tens of thousands of years earlier?
Archaeologists have long been puzzled by the appearance in Europe ∼40–35 thousand years (kyr) ago of a rich corpus of sophisticated artworks, including parietal art (that is, paintings, drawings and engravings on immobile rock surfaces)
1
,
2
and portable art (for example, carved figurines)
3
,
4
, and the absence or scarcity of equivalent, well-dated evidence elsewhere, especially along early human migration routes in South Asia and the Far East, including Wallacea and Australia
5
,
6
,
7
,
8
, where modern humans (
Homo sapiens
) were established by 50 kyr ago
9
,
10
. Here, using uranium-series dating of coralloid speleothems directly associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, we show that rock art traditions on this Indonesian island are at least compatible in age with the oldest European art
11
. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world. In addition, a painting of a babirusa (‘pig-deer’) made at least 35.4 kyr ago is among the earliest dated figurative depictions worldwide, if not the earliest one. Among the implications, it can now be demonstrated that humans were producing rock art by ∼40 kyr ago at opposite ends of the Pleistocene Eurasian world. |
| doi_str_mv | 10.1038/nature13422 |
| format | Article |
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Ice Age art in the tropics
New dating results challenge the traditional view that western Europe was the centre of a crucial stage in the evolution of modern human intelligence and culture — based largely on the emergence of figurative or representational art in cave paintings and sculptures around 40,000 years ago. Dating data from a series of hand stencils and paintings of wild animals from caves in the Maros karst in Sulawesi, Indonesia, suggest that figurative art appeared at more or less the same time at opposite ends of the Late Pleistocene world. Or was cave painting practised by the first
Homo sapiens
to leave Africa tens of thousands of years earlier?
Archaeologists have long been puzzled by the appearance in Europe ∼40–35 thousand years (kyr) ago of a rich corpus of sophisticated artworks, including parietal art (that is, paintings, drawings and engravings on immobile rock surfaces)
1
,
2
and portable art (for example, carved figurines)
3
,
4
, and the absence or scarcity of equivalent, well-dated evidence elsewhere, especially along early human migration routes in South Asia and the Far East, including Wallacea and Australia
5
,
6
,
7
,
8
, where modern humans (
Homo sapiens
) were established by 50 kyr ago
9
,
10
. Here, using uranium-series dating of coralloid speleothems directly associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, we show that rock art traditions on this Indonesian island are at least compatible in age with the oldest European art
11
. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world. In addition, a painting of a babirusa (‘pig-deer’) made at least 35.4 kyr ago is among the earliest dated figurative depictions worldwide, if not the earliest one. Among the implications, it can now be demonstrated that humans were producing rock art by ∼40 kyr ago at opposite ends of the Pleistocene Eurasian world.</description><identifier>ISSN: 0028-0836</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1476-4687</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1038/nature13422</identifier><identifier>PMID: 25297435</identifier><identifier>CODEN: NATUAS</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>London: Nature Publishing Group UK</publisher><subject>140/58 ; 631/181/27 ; Age ; Animals ; Art - history ; Caves ; Deer ; History, Ancient ; Human Activities - history ; Humanities and Social Sciences ; Indonesia ; letter ; multidisciplinary ; Petroglyphs ; Pleistocene ; Rocks ; Science ; Swine ; Traditions ; Uranium</subject><ispartof>Nature (London), 2014-10, Vol.514 (7521), p.223-227</ispartof><rights>Springer Nature Limited 2014</rights><rights>COPYRIGHT 2014 Nature Publishing Group</rights><rights>Copyright Nature Publishing Group Oct 9, 2014</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-a543t-421a877a78c2a6a7cec24460026eca0dff1f1710bf442c2d658b2e5cd04f2e493</citedby><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-a543t-421a877a78c2a6a7cec24460026eca0dff1f1710bf442c2d658b2e5cd04f2e493</cites></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><linktopdf>$$Uhttps://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1038/nature13422$$EPDF$$P50$$Gspringer$$H</linktopdf><linktohtml>$$Uhttps://link.springer.com/10.1038/nature13422$$EHTML$$P50$$Gspringer$$H</linktohtml><link.rule.ids>314,776,780,27901,27902,41464,42533,51294</link.rule.ids><backlink>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25297435$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed$$Hfree_for_read</backlink></links><search><creatorcontrib>Aubert, M.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Brumm, A.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Ramli, M.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Sutikna, T.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Saptomo, E. W.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Hakim, B.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Morwood, M. J.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>van den Bergh, G. D.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Kinsley, L.</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Dosseto, A.</creatorcontrib><title>Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia</title><title>Nature (London)</title><addtitle>Nature</addtitle><addtitle>Nature</addtitle><description>Cave art from the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, consisting of human hand stencils and animal paintings, is at least 40,000 years old, raising the question of why rock art traditions appeared at more or less the same time at opposite ends of the Late Pleistocene human world.
Ice Age art in the tropics
New dating results challenge the traditional view that western Europe was the centre of a crucial stage in the evolution of modern human intelligence and culture — based largely on the emergence of figurative or representational art in cave paintings and sculptures around 40,000 years ago. Dating data from a series of hand stencils and paintings of wild animals from caves in the Maros karst in Sulawesi, Indonesia, suggest that figurative art appeared at more or less the same time at opposite ends of the Late Pleistocene world. Or was cave painting practised by the first
Homo sapiens
to leave Africa tens of thousands of years earlier?
Archaeologists have long been puzzled by the appearance in Europe ∼40–35 thousand years (kyr) ago of a rich corpus of sophisticated artworks, including parietal art (that is, paintings, drawings and engravings on immobile rock surfaces)
1
,
2
and portable art (for example, carved figurines)
3
,
4
, and the absence or scarcity of equivalent, well-dated evidence elsewhere, especially along early human migration routes in South Asia and the Far East, including Wallacea and Australia
5
,
6
,
7
,
8
, where modern humans (
Homo sapiens
) were established by 50 kyr ago
9
,
10
. Here, using uranium-series dating of coralloid speleothems directly associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, we show that rock art traditions on this Indonesian island are at least compatible in age with the oldest European art
11
. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world. In addition, a painting of a babirusa (‘pig-deer’) made at least 35.4 kyr ago is among the earliest dated figurative depictions worldwide, if not the earliest one. Among the implications, it can now be demonstrated that humans were producing rock art by ∼40 kyr ago at opposite ends of the Pleistocene Eurasian world.</description><subject>140/58</subject><subject>631/181/27</subject><subject>Age</subject><subject>Animals</subject><subject>Art - history</subject><subject>Caves</subject><subject>Deer</subject><subject>History, Ancient</subject><subject>Human Activities - history</subject><subject>Humanities and Social Sciences</subject><subject>Indonesia</subject><subject>letter</subject><subject>multidisciplinary</subject><subject>Petroglyphs</subject><subject>Pleistocene</subject><subject>Rocks</subject><subject>Science</subject><subject>Swine</subject><subject>Traditions</subject><subject>Uranium</subject><issn>0028-0836</issn><issn>1476-4687</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2014</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><sourceid>EIF</sourceid><sourceid>8G5</sourceid><sourceid>BEC</sourceid><sourceid>BENPR</sourceid><sourceid>GUQSH</sourceid><sourceid>M2O</sourceid><recordid>eNpt0k1rGzEQBmBRUhon7an3siSXhGRdSauV5KMx-TAEEur2LMbakdmwH4602yb_PjJOG7ssOkhIj4bhZQj5yuiY0Ux_b6DrPbJMcP6BjJhQMhVSqwMyopTrlOpMHpKjEB4ppTlT4hM55DmfKJHlI5I-VFiGrrXYYGLhNybgu8T5tk4WfQV_MJSXybwp2iae4DP56KAK-OVtPya_rq9-zm7Tu_ub-Wx6l0Iusi4VnIFWCpS2HCQoi5YLIWM7Ei3QwjnmmGJ06YTglhcy10uOuS2ocBzFJDsmZ9u6a98-9Rg6U5fBYlVBg20fDJOMqlxpLiM9_Y8-tr1vYncbJWiMg9N3tYIKTdm4tvNgN0XNNNO5oFLqjUoH1CpG46GKCbgyXu_5kwFv1-WT2UXjARRXgXVpB6ue732IpsPnbgV9CGa--LFvL7bW-jYEj86sfVmDfzGMms10mJ3piPrbW1b9ssbin_07DhFcbkGIT80K_U6YA_VeAZbhvqs</recordid><startdate>20141009</startdate><enddate>20141009</enddate><creator>Aubert, M.</creator><creator>Brumm, A.</creator><creator>Ramli, M.</creator><creator>Sutikna, T.</creator><creator>Saptomo, E. 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W. ; Hakim, B. ; Morwood, M. J. ; van den Bergh, G. 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Academic</collection><jtitle>Nature (London)</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Aubert, M.</au><au>Brumm, A.</au><au>Ramli, M.</au><au>Sutikna, T.</au><au>Saptomo, E. W.</au><au>Hakim, B.</au><au>Morwood, M. J.</au><au>van den Bergh, G. D.</au><au>Kinsley, L.</au><au>Dosseto, A.</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia</atitle><jtitle>Nature (London)</jtitle><stitle>Nature</stitle><addtitle>Nature</addtitle><date>2014-10-09</date><risdate>2014</risdate><volume>514</volume><issue>7521</issue><spage>223</spage><epage>227</epage><pages>223-227</pages><issn>0028-0836</issn><eissn>1476-4687</eissn><coden>NATUAS</coden><abstract>Cave art from the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, consisting of human hand stencils and animal paintings, is at least 40,000 years old, raising the question of why rock art traditions appeared at more or less the same time at opposite ends of the Late Pleistocene human world.
Ice Age art in the tropics
New dating results challenge the traditional view that western Europe was the centre of a crucial stage in the evolution of modern human intelligence and culture — based largely on the emergence of figurative or representational art in cave paintings and sculptures around 40,000 years ago. Dating data from a series of hand stencils and paintings of wild animals from caves in the Maros karst in Sulawesi, Indonesia, suggest that figurative art appeared at more or less the same time at opposite ends of the Late Pleistocene world. Or was cave painting practised by the first
Homo sapiens
to leave Africa tens of thousands of years earlier?
Archaeologists have long been puzzled by the appearance in Europe ∼40–35 thousand years (kyr) ago of a rich corpus of sophisticated artworks, including parietal art (that is, paintings, drawings and engravings on immobile rock surfaces)
1
,
2
and portable art (for example, carved figurines)
3
,
4
, and the absence or scarcity of equivalent, well-dated evidence elsewhere, especially along early human migration routes in South Asia and the Far East, including Wallacea and Australia
5
,
6
,
7
,
8
, where modern humans (
Homo sapiens
) were established by 50 kyr ago
9
,
10
. Here, using uranium-series dating of coralloid speleothems directly associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, we show that rock art traditions on this Indonesian island are at least compatible in age with the oldest European art
11
. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world. In addition, a painting of a babirusa (‘pig-deer’) made at least 35.4 kyr ago is among the earliest dated figurative depictions worldwide, if not the earliest one. Among the implications, it can now be demonstrated that humans were producing rock art by ∼40 kyr ago at opposite ends of the Pleistocene Eurasian world.</abstract><cop>London</cop><pub>Nature Publishing Group UK</pub><pmid>25297435</pmid><doi>10.1038/nature13422</doi><tpages>5</tpages></addata></record> |
| fulltext | fulltext |
| identifier | ISSN: 0028-0836 |
| ispartof | Nature (London), 2014-10, Vol.514 (7521), p.223-227 |
| issn | 0028-0836 1476-4687 |
| language | eng |
| recordid | cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_1610757826 |
| source | MEDLINE; Springer Nature - Complete Springer Journals; Nature Journals Online |
| subjects | 140/58 631/181/27 Age Animals Art - history Caves Deer History, Ancient Human Activities - history Humanities and Social Sciences Indonesia letter multidisciplinary Petroglyphs Pleistocene Rocks Science Swine Traditions Uranium |
| title | Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia |
| url | https://sfx.bib-bvb.de/sfx_tum?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_tim=2025-02-01T21%3A48%3A37IST&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=infofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com:primo3-Article-gale_proqu&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Pleistocene%20cave%20art%20from%20Sulawesi,%20Indonesia&rft.jtitle=Nature%20(London)&rft.au=Aubert,%20M.&rft.date=2014-10-09&rft.volume=514&rft.issue=7521&rft.spage=223&rft.epage=227&rft.pages=223-227&rft.issn=0028-0836&rft.eissn=1476-4687&rft.coden=NATUAS&rft_id=info:doi/10.1038/nature13422&rft_dat=%3Cgale_proqu%3EA385406680%3C/gale_proqu%3E%3Curl%3E%3C/url%3E&disable_directlink=true&sfx.directlink=off&sfx.report_link=0&rft_id=info:oai/&rft_pqid=1614047620&rft_id=info:pmid/25297435&rft_galeid=A385406680&rfr_iscdi=true |