Archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest cave mural in Indonesia: a life-size wild boar mural that existed at least 45,500 years ago.
The findings, published today in the journal Science Advances, are the oldest evidence of human habitation in the region.
Study co-author Maxime Aubert of Griffith University, Australia, said the research team collaborated with Indonesian officials in 2017 on the study, which was conducted by doctoral student Basran Burhan, who discovered murals on Sulawesi.
The Leang Tedongnge caves, where the murals are located, are located in a remote valley surrounded by steep limestone cliffs, about an hour’s walk from the nearest road.
Due to flooding during the rainy season, access to the cave is only possible during the dry season. The local Bugis (Bugis) told the research team that no Westerners had ever visited before.
The Sulawesi boar in the mural is 136 centimeters long and 54 centimeters wide, painted in dark red ochre, with a row of erect bristles on its back and a pair of warts on its face raised like a bull’s horn, characteristic of an adult boar.
There are two handprints on the top of the back half of the boar’s body, and from the entire depiction, the boar appears to be facing the other two boars, although only part of the companion’s form has been preserved.
Another co-author, Adam Brumm, said, “The boar seems to be observing the fight or social interaction between the other two boars.
Humans have hunted Sulawesi boars for thousands of years, and they were an important feature of local prehistoric art, especially during the Ice Age.
Obert, an expert in dating, found a calcite deposit above the boar mural, and after analyzing it using uranium isotope dating, he was confident that the deposit could be traced back to 45,500 years ago. This puts the age of the boar mural at least 45,500 years ago.
The people who painted the murals were no different from us in modern times, they had the ability and tools to paint whatever they wanted,” added Obert.
The team also previously found the oldest petroglyphs of the time on Sulawesi, which show half-human, half-animal hunters chasing mammals, dating back at least 43,900 years.
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