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| Sulawesi warty pig. The world's oldest known painting. Leang Tedongnge cave, Sulawesi, Indonesia |
A team of archaeologists led by Professor Adam Brumm from Griffith’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, have discovered what is believed to be the oldest know paining.
Not only has it been dated to way before YECs believe the Universe was magicked into existence, but way before they believe everything was destroyed by a global flood! It must be getting harder and harder to cling to YECism as the evidence against it continues to pile up. It can only be maintained by ignorance of this evidence or by advanced techniques for coping with the cognitive dissonance of holding beliefs that are at complete variance with reality.
The red painting of a Sulawesi warty pig, which is endemic to the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, with two negative images of hands (signatures?) was probably part of a scene with two other pigs, only fragments of which now remain. It has been dated to at least 45,500 years old.
It is believed to have been painted by Homo sapiens, rather than some archaeic hominin species such as Denisovans or Homo erectus.
The team, which included members of Indonesia’s leading archaeological research centre, Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi Nasional (ARKENAS), published their finding yesterday in Science Advances.
Abstract
Indonesia harbors some of the oldest known surviving cave art. Previously, the earliest dated rock art from this region was a figurative painting of a Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis). This image from Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4 in the limestone karsts of Maros-Pangkep, South Sulawesi, was created at least 43,900 years ago (43.9 ka) based on Uranium-series dating. Here, we report the Uranium-series dating of two figurative cave paintings of Sulawesi warty pigs recently discovered in the same karst area. The oldest, with a minimum age of 45.5 ka, is from Leang Tedongnge. The second image, from Leang Balangajia 1, dates to at least 32 ka. To our knowledge, the animal painting from Leang Tedongnge is the earliest known representational work of art in the world. There is no reason to suppose, however, that this early rock art is a unique example in Island Southeast Asia or the wider region.
Brumm, Adam; Oktaviana, Adhi Agus; Burhan, Basran; Hakim, Budianto; Lebe, Rustan; Zhao, Jian-xin; Sulistyarto, Priyatno Hadi; Ririmasse, Marlon; Adhityatama, Shinatria; Sumantri, Iwan; Aubert, Maxime
Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi
Science Advances 13 Jan 2021: Vol. 7, no. 3, eabd4648; DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd4648
Copyright: © 2021 The authors. Published by The American Association for the Advancement of Science. Open access. Reprinted under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC)
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| U-series dating of the pig figure (pig 1) at Leang Tedongnge. (A) Sample LTed3 comprises a coralloid speleothem overlying the figure’s rear foot. (B to D) Sample LTed3 overlying red pigment of the foot. (E) Underside of sample LTed3 after removal from the rock art panel; clearly visible is the red pigment of the paint layer adhering to the base of the coralloid speleothem. (F to G) Schematic diagrams of sample removal and dating. (F) Sampled coralloid speleothem (LTed3) formed on top of the paint layer corresponding to the rear foot of the pig. (G) When removed, the sampled coralloid speleothem (LTed3) took the underlying paint layer with it affixed to the base (see Materials and Methods). U-series isotope analysis was conducted on four micromilled subsamples (green dotted lines); one aliquot was collected from immediately below the pigment layer (LTed3.1), and the remaining three aliquots (LTed3.2, LTed3.3, and LTed3.4) came from progressively higher levels above (i.e., on top of) the pigment layer. SE, secular equilibrium. Uncertainties reported at 2σ. Our results indicate a minimum U-series age of 45.5 ka for this figurative image of a suid at Leang Tedongnge. Photo credit: M. Aubert, Griffith University. |
Rock art is very challenging to date, [h]owever, rock art produced in limestone caves can sometimes be dated using Uranium-series analysis of calcium carbonate deposits (‘cave popcorn’) that form naturally on the cave wall surface used as a ‘canvas’ for the art. At Leang Tedongnge, a small cave popcorn had formed on the rear foot of one of the pig figures after it had been painted, so when dated, it provided us with a minimum age for the painting... We have now dated multiple examples of early rock art in Sulawesi, including depictions of animals and narrative scenes that are outstanding both for the quality of their execution and rarity worldwide.The problem for Creationists is of course that not only is this painting older than they believe the Universe is, but it would have been totally destroyed by the alleged biblical flood, yet there it is, with no sign of water damage, just like the very many other rock and cave paintings on Sulawesi and other parts of the world.
It will be interesting which technique Creationist frauds like Ken Ham uses to dismiss this evidence. Dismissing inconvenient facts uncovered by science is almost a full-time occupation for those who still make their living by fooling scientifically illiterate idiots with disinformation. We can be sure the dismissal of it will include rejecting the dating technique; questioning the motives of the scientists and archaeologists or simply waving the whole thing aside as 'fake news' and all part of a massive conspiracy - a technique copied from the paranoid President-reject Trump who fools his equally paranoid Trumpanzee followers, many of whom are Creationists of course, with it.
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