Oldest known picture story dating back 51,000 years discovered in Indonesian cave

The oldest known surviving picture story in the world has been found 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, according to archaeologists.

The international team of scientists, which included researchers from Australia’s Griffith University, published their exciting findings in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

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“Humans have probably been telling stories for much longer than 51,200 years, but as words do not fossilize we can only go by indirect proxies like depictions of scenes in art – and the Sulawesi art is now the oldest such evidence by far that is known to archaeology,” Indonesian rock art specialist Adhi Agus Oktaviana, who led the team, said.

The team used a new technique, known as laser ablation U-series (LA-U-series) analysis, to date tiny layers of calcium carbonate that had formed on top of the art to determine how long ago it was created.

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Oktaviana described the results as “very surprising”.

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“None of the famous European Ice Age art is anywhere near as old as this, with the exception of some controversial finds in Spain, and this is the first time rock art dates in Indonesia have ever been pushed beyond the 50,000-year mark,” he said.

The team also used the new technique on a painting in the nearby cave of Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4 in Maros Pangkep, a UNESCO Global Geopark.

They found it was some 4000 years older than previously thought, believed to be at least 48,000 years old now instead of 44,000.

This painting showed part-human, part-animal beings with warty pigs and dwarf buffalo.

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