Cave painting

In archaeology, cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 years old (art of the Upper Paleolithic) and found in the caves in the district of Maros (Sulawesi, Indonesia). The oldest are often constructed from hand stencils and simple geometric shapes.[5] More recently, in 2021, cave art of a pig found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, and dated to over 45,500 years ago, has been reported.[6][7]

Not to be confused with rock art, the broader term which includes human-made markings on all natural surfaces.
Cueva de las Manos, Perito Moreno, Argentina. The art in the cave is dated between 7,300 BC and 700 AD,[lower-alpha 1] stenciled, mostly left hands are shown.[3][4]

A 2018 study claimed an age of 64,000 years for the oldest examples of non-figurative cave art in the Iberian Peninsula. Represented by three red non-figurative symbols found in the caves of Maltravieso, Ardales and La Pasiega, Spain, these predate the appearance of modern humans in Europe by at least 20,000 years and thus must have been made by Neanderthals rather than modern humans.[8]

In November 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the then-oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo.[9][10] Nevertheless, in December 2019, cave paintings portraying pig hunting within the Maros-Pangkep karst region in Sulawesi were discovered to be even older, with an estimated age of at least 43,900 years. This remarkable finding was recognized as "the oldest known depiction of storytelling and the earliest instance of figurative art in human history."[11][12]

Dating
One of the oldest known figurative paintings, a depiction of an unknown bovine, was discovered in the Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave and dated to be more than 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old.[9][10]

Nearly 350 caves have now been discovered in France and Spain that contain art from prehistoric times. Initially, the age of the paintings had been a contentious issue, since methods like radiocarbon dating can produce misleading results if contaminated by other samples,[13] and caves and rocky overhangs (where parietal art is found) are typically littered with debris from many time periods. But subsequent technology has made it possible to date the paintings by sampling the pigment itself, torch marks on the walls,[14] or the formation of carbonate deposits on top of the paintings.[15] The subject matter can also indicate chronology: for instance, the reindeer depicted in the Spanish cave of Cueva de las Monedas places the drawings in the last Ice Age.

The oldest known cave painting is a red hand stencil in Maltravieso cave, Cáceres, Spain. It has been dated using the uranium-thorium method[15] to older than 64,000 years and was made by a Neanderthal.[8] The oldest date given to an animal cave painting is now a depiction of several human figures hunting pigs in the caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, dated to be over 43,900 years old.[12] Before this, the oldest known figurative cave paintings were that of a bull dated to 40,000 years, at Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave, East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo,[16] and a depiction of a pig with a minimum age of 35,400 years at Timpuseng cave in Sulawesi.[5]

The earliest known European figurative cave paintings are those of Chauvet Cave in France, dating to earlier than 30,000 BC in the Upper Paleolithic according to radiocarbon dating.[17] Some researchers believe the drawings are too advanced for this era and question this age.[18] However, more than 80 radiocarbon dates had been obtained by 2011, with samples taken from torch marks and from the paintings themselves, as well as from animal bones and charcoal found on the cave floor. The radiocarbon dates from these samples show that there were two periods of creation in Chauvet: 35,000 years ago and 30,000 years ago.[19] One of the surprises was that many of the paintings were modified repeatedly over thousands of years, possibly explaining the confusion about finer paintings that seemed to date earlier than cruder ones.

An artistic depiction of a group of rhinoceros was completed in the Chauvet Cave 30,000 to 32,000 years ago.

In 2009, cavers discovered drawings in Coliboaia Cave in Romania, stylistically comparable to those at Chauvet.[20] An initial dating puts the age of an image in the same range as Chauvet: about 32,000 years old.[21]

In Australia, cave paintings have been found on the Arnhem Land plateau showing megafauna which are thought to have been extinct for over 40,000 years, making this site another candidate for oldest known painting; however, the proposed age is dependent on the estimate of the extinction of the species seemingly depicted.[22] Another Australian site, Nawarla Gabarnmang, has charcoal drawings that have been radiocarbon-dated to 28,000 years, making it the oldest site in Australia and among the oldest in the world for which reliable date evidence has been obtained.[23]

Other examples may date as late as the Early Bronze Age, but the well-known Magdalenian style seen at Lascaux in France (c. 15,000 BC) and Altamira in Spain died out about 10,000 BC, coinciding with the advent of the Neolithic period. Some caves probably continued to be painted over a period of several thousands of years.[24]

The next phase of surviving European prehistoric painting, the rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, was very different, concentrating on large assemblies of smaller and much less detailed figures, with at least as many humans as animals. This was created roughly between 10,000 and 5,500 years ago, and painted in rock shelters under cliffs or shallow caves, in contrast to the recesses of deep caves used in the earlier (and much colder) period. Although individual figures are less naturalistic, they are grouped in coherent grouped compositions to a much greater degree. Over a long period of time, the cave art has become less naturalistic and has graduated from beautiful, naturalistic animal drawings to simple ones, and then to abstract shapes.

Subjects, themes, and patterns in cave painting
Prehistoric cave painting of animals at Albarracín, Teruel, Spain (rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin)

Cave artists use a variety of techniques such as finger tracing, modeling in clay, engravings, bas-relief sculpture, hand stencils, and paintings done in two or three colors. Scholars classify cave art as "Signs" or abstract marks. [25] The most common subjects in cave paintings are large wild animals, such as bison, horses, aurochs, and deer, and tracings of human hands as well as abstract patterns, called finger flutings. The species found most often were suitable for hunting by humans, but were not necessarily the actual typical prey found in associated deposits of bones; for example, the painters of Lascaux have mainly left reindeer bones, but this species does not appear at all in the cave paintings, where equine species are the most common. Drawings of humans were rare and are usually schematic as opposed to the more detailed and naturalistic images of animal subjects. Kieran D. O'Hara, geologist, suggests in his book Cave Art and Climate Change that climate controlled the themes depicted.[26] Pigments used include red and yellow ochre, hematite, manganese oxide and charcoal. Sometimes the silhouette of the animal was incised in the rock first, and in some caves all or many of the images are only engraved in this fashion, taking them somewhat out of a strict definition of "cave painting".

Similarly, large animals are also the most common subjects in the many small carved and engraved bone or ivory (less often stone) pieces dating from the same periods. But these include the group of Venus figurines, which with a few incomplete exceptions have no real equivalent in Paleolithic cave paintings.[27] One counterexample is a feminine figure in the Chauvet Cave, as described in an interview with Dominique Baffier in Cave of Forgotten Dreams.[28] Hand stencils, formed by placing a hand against the wall and covering the surrounding area in pigment result in the characteristic image of a roughly round area of solid pigment with the uncoloured shape of the hand in the centre, these may then be decorated with dots, dashes, and patterns. Often, these are found in the same caves as other paintings, or may be the only form of painting in a location. Some walls contain many hand stencils. Similar hands are also painted in the usual fashion. A number of hands show a finger wholly or partly missing, for which a number of explanations have been given. Hand images are found in similar forms in Europe, Eastern Asia, Australia, and South America.[29] One site in Baja California features handprints as a prominent motif in its rock art. Archaeological study of this site revealed that, based on the size of the handprints, they most likely belonged to the women of the community. In addition to this, they were likely used during initiation rituals in Chinigchinich religious practices, which were commonly practiced in the Luiseño territory where this site is located.[30]

Theories and interpretations
Rock paintings from the Cave of Beasts (Gilf Kebir, Libyan Desert) Estimated 7000 BP

In the early 20th century, following the work of Walter Baldwin Spencer and Francis James Gillen, scholars such as Salomon Reinach, Henri Breuil and Count Bégouën interpreted the paintings as 'utilitarian' hunting magic to increase the abundance of prey.[31] Jacob Bronowski states, "I think that the power that we see expressed here for the first time is the power of anticipation: the forward-looking imagination. In these paintings the hunter was made familiar with dangers which he knew he had to face but to which he had not yet come."[32]

Another theory, developed by David Lewis-Williams and broadly based on ethnographic studies of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, is that the paintings were made by paleolithic shamans.[33] The shaman would retreat into the darkness of the caves, enter into a trance state, then paint images of their visions, perhaps with some notion of drawing out power from the cave walls themselves.

R. Dale Guthrie, who has studied both highly artistic and lower quality art and figurines, identifies a wide range of skill and age among the artists. He hypothesizes that the main themes in the paintings and other artifacts (powerful beasts, risky hunting scenes and the representation of women in the Venus figurines) are the work of adolescent males, who constituted a large part of the human population at the time.[34] However, in analyzing hand prints and stencils in French and Spanish caves, Dean Snow of Pennsylvania State University has proposed that a proportion of them, including those around the spotted horses in Pech Merle, were of female hands.[35]

Analysis in 2022, led by Bennet Bacon, an amateur archaeologist, along with a team of professional archeologists and psychologists at the University of Durham, including Paul Pettitt and Robert William Kentridge,[36] suggested that lines and dots (and a commonly seen, if unusual, "Y" symbol, which was proposed to mean "to give birth") on upper palaeolithic cave paintings correlated with the mating cycle of animals in a lunar calendar, potentially making them the earliest known evidence of a proto-writing system and explaining one object of many cave paintings.[37]

Paleolithic cave art by region
Further information: Paleolithic art

Europe
See also: Caves in Cantabria
30,000-year-old cave hyena painting found in the Chauvet Cave, France
Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain

Well-known cave paintings include those of:

Polychrome cave painting of a wolf, Font-de-Gaume, France

Other sites include Creswell Crags, Nottinghamshire, England (~14,500 ys old cave etchings and bas-reliefs discovered in 2003), Peștera Coliboaia in Romania (~29,000 y.o. art?).[40]

Rock painting was also performed on cliff faces; but fewer of those have survived because of erosion. One example is the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi (3000–2500 BC) in the Saimaa area of Finland.

When Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola first encountered the Magdalenian paintings of the Cave of Altamira in Cantabria, Spain in 1879, the academics of the time considered them hoaxes. Recent reappraisals and numerous additional discoveries have since demonstrated their authenticity, while at the same time stimulating interest in the artistry and symbolism[41] of Upper Palaeolithic peoples.

East and Southeast Asia
Cave of Pettakere, Bantimurung district (kecamatan), South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Hand stencils estimated between 0,000 years old.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}Aubert, M.; et al. (2014). "Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia". Nature. 514 (7521): 223–227. Bibcode:2014Natur.514..223A. doi:10.1038/nature13422. PMID 25297435. S2CID 2725838. 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. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world.
Caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst (Sulawesi, Indonesia). Hand stencils estimated between 35,000–40,000 BP, stencils of right hands shown.

In Indonesia the caves in the district of Maros in Sulawesi are famous for their hand prints. About 1,500 negative handprints have also been found in 30 painted caves in the Sangkulirang area of Kalimantan; preliminary dating analysis as of 2005 put their age in the range of 10,000 years old.[43] A 2014 study based on uranium–thorium dating dated a Maros hand stencil to a minimum age of 39,900 years. A painting of a babirusa was dated to at least 35.4 ka, placing it among the oldest known figurative depictions worldwide.[5]

In November 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo.[9][10]

And more recently, in 2021, archaeologists announced the discovery of cave art at least 45,500 years old in Leang Tedongnge cave, Indonesia. According to the journal Science Advances, the cave painting of a warty pig is the earliest evidence of human settlement of the region.[44][45] It has been reported that it is rapidly deteriorating as a result of climate change in the region.[46]

Originating in the Paleolithic period, the rock art found in Khoit Tsenkher Cave, Mongolia, includes symbols and animal forms painted from the walls up to the ceiling.[47] Stags, buffalo, oxen, ibex, lions, Argali sheep, antelopes, camels, elephants, ostriches, and other animal pictorials are present, often forming a palimpsest of overlapping images. The paintings appear brown or red in color, and are stylistically similar to other Paleolithic rock art from around the world but are unlike any other examples in Mongolia.

The Padah-Lin Caves of Burma contain 11,000-year-old paintings and many rock tools.

India
Main article: Cave paintings in India
Bhimbetka rock painting

The Ambadevi rock shelters have the oldest cave paintings in India, dating back to 25,000 years. The Bhimbetka rock shelters are dated to about 8,000 BC.[48][49][50][51][52] Similar paintings are found in other parts of India as well. In Tamil Nadu, ancient Paleolithic Cave paintings are found in Kombaikadu, Kilvalai, Settavarai and Nehanurpatti. In Odisha they are found in Yogimatha and Gudahandi. In Karnataka, these paintings are found in Hiregudda near Badami. The most recent painting, consisting of geometric figures, date to the medieval period. Executed mainly in red and white with the occasional use of green and yellow, the paintings depict the lives and times of the people who lived in the caves, including scenes of childbirth, communal dancing and drinking, religious rites and burials, as well as indigenous animals.[53]

Southern Africa

Cave paintings found at the Apollo 11 Cave in Namibia are estimated to date from approximately 25,500–27,500 years ago.[54]

In 2011, archaeologists found a small rock fragment at Blombos Cave, about 300 km (190 mi) east of Cape Town on the southern cape coastline in South Africa, among spear points and other excavated material. After extensive testing for seven years, it was revealed that the lines drawn on the rock were handmade and from an ochre crayon dating back 73,000 years. This makes it the oldest known rock painting.[55][56]

Australia
Painting at Jabiru Dreaming, Kakadu National Park

Significant early cave paintings, executed in ochre, have been found in Kimberley and Kakadu, Australia. Ochre is not an organic material, so carbon dating of these pictures is often impossible. The oldest so far dated at 17,300 years is an ochre painting of a kangaroo in the Kimberley region, which was dated by carbon dating wasp nest material underlying and overlying the painting.[57] Sometimes the approximate date, or at least, an epoch, can be surmised from the painting content, contextual artifacts, or organic material intentionally or inadvertently mixed with the inorganic ochre paint, including torch soot.[14]

A red ochre painting, discovered at the centre of the Arnhem Land Plateau, depicts two emu-like birds with their necks outstretched. They have been identified by a palaeontologist as depicting the megafauna species Genyornis, giant birds thought to have become extinct more than 40,000 years ago; however, this evidence is inconclusive for dating. It may suggest that Genyornis became extinct at a later date than previously determined.[22]

Hook Island in the Whitsunday Islands is also home to a number of cave paintings created by the seafaring Ngaro people.[58]

Holocene cave art
Dera Rock Art in, Eritrea

Asia

In the Philippines at Tabon Caves the oldest artwork may be a relief of a shark above the cave entrance. It was partially disfigured by a later jar burial scene.

The Edakkal Caves of Kerala, India, contain drawings that range over periods from the Neolithic as early as 5,000 BC to 1,000 BC.[59][60][61]

Horn of Africa
Rock art in the Adi Alauti cave, Eritrea
Cave paintings at the Laas Geel complex in northern Somaliland.

Rock art near Qohaito appears to indicate habitation in the area since the fifth millennium BC, while the town is known to have survived to the sixth century AD. Mount Emba Soira, Eritrea's highest mountain, lies near the site, as does a small successor village. Much of the rock art sites are found together with evidence of prehistoric stone tools, suggesting that the art could predate the widely presumed pastoralist and domestication events that occurred 5000– 4000 years ago.[62][63]

In 2002, a French archaeological team discovered the Laas Geel cave paintings on the outskirts of Hargeisa in Somaliland. Dating back around 5,000 years, the paintings depict both wild animals and decorated cows. They also feature herders, who are believed to be the creators of the rock art.[64] In 2008, Somali archaeologists announced the discovery of other cave paintings in Dhambalin region, which the researchers suggest includes one of the earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is dated to 1000 to 3000 BC.[65][66]

Additionally, between the towns of Las Khorey and El Ayo in Karinhegane is a site of numerous cave paintings of real and mythical animals. Each painting has an inscription below it, which collectively have been estimated to be around 2,500 years old.[67][68] Karihegane's rock art is in the same distinctive style as the Laas Geel and Dhambalin cave paintings.[69][70] Around 25 miles from Las Khorey is found Gelweita, another key rock art site.[68]

In Djibouti, rock art of what appear to be antelopes and a giraffe are also found at Dorra and Balho.[71]

North Africa
Cave painting at the Tassili n'Ajjer UNESCO World Heritage Site in southeast Algeria.

Many cave paintings are found in the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains in southeast Algeria. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the rock art was first discovered in 1933 and has since yielded 15,000 engravings and drawings that keep a record of the various animal migrations, climatic shifts, and change in human inhabitation patterns in this part of the Sahara from 6000 BC to the late classical period.[72] Other cave paintings are also found at the Akakus, Mesak Settafet and Tadrart in Libya and other Sahara regions including: Ayr mountains, Niger and Tibesti, Chad.

The Cave of Swimmers and the Cave of Beasts in southwest Egypt, near the border with Libya, in the mountainous Gilf Kebir region of the Sahara Desert. The Cave of Swimmers was discovered in October 1933 by the Hungarian explorer László Almásy. The site contains rock painting images of people swimming, which are estimated to have been created 10,000 years ago during the time of the most recent Ice Age.

In 2020, limestone cave decorated with scenes of animals such as donkeys, camels, deer, mule and mountain goats was uncovered in the area of Wadi Al-Zulma by the archaeological mission from the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry. Rock art cave is 15 meters deep and 20 meters high.[73][74]

Southern Africa
San rock paintings from the Western Cape in South Africa.

At uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park, South Africa, now thought to be some 3,000 years old, the paintings by the San people who settled in the area some 8,000 years ago depict animals and humans, and are thought to represent religious beliefs. Human figures are much more common in the rock art of Africa than in Europe.[75]

North America
Painted Cave, Santa Barbara County, California
Main article: Great Mural Rock Art

Distinctive monochrome and polychrome cave paintings and murals exist in the mid-peninsula regions of southern Baja California and northern Baja California Sur, consisting of Pre-Columbian paintings of humans, land animals, sea creatures, and abstract designs. These paintings are mostly confined to the sierras of this region, but can also be found in outlying mesas and rock shelters. According to recent radiocarbon studies of the area, of materials recovered from archaeological deposits in the rock shelters and on materials in the paintings themselves, suggest that the Great Murals may have a time range extending as far back as 7,500 years ago.[76]

California

Further information: Rock art of the Chumash people

Native artists in the Chumash tribes created cave paintings that are located in present-day Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo Counties in Southern California in the United States. They include examples at Burro Flats Painted Cave and Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park.

There are also Native American pictogram examples in caves of the Southwestern United States. Cave art that is 6,000 years old was found in the Cumberland Plateau region of Tennessee.[77]

Native American tribes have contributed to the makings of Californian cave art, whether it be in Northern or Baja California. The Chumash people of Southern and Baja California made paintings in Swordfish Cave. It was given its name after the swordfish that are painted on its walls and is a sacred site for religious and cultural practices of the Chumash tribe. It was under attack of demolition, which prompted the start of its conservation with cooperation between the Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Tribal Elders Council of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash. These two parties were able to stabilize and conserve the cave and its art. When previously studied, there were many conclusions about how the paintings were made but not a lot of conclusions about the symbolic value of the rock art and what its meaning to the Chumash tribe. The excavation of the inside of the cave became a viewing area for archaeologists and anthropologists, specifically Clayton Lebow, Douglas Harrow, and Rebecca McKim, to find out the symbolic meaning of the art. Some of the tools that were used to make the pictographs were found in the site and were connected to the two early occupations that were in the area. This pushed back the general knowledge of understood antiquity of rock art on California’s Central Coast by more than 2,000 years.[78]

Northern and Baja California

The National Institution of Anthropology and History (INAH) established in Mexico recorded over 1,500 rock art related archaeological monuments in Baja California. A little under 300 of the sites were connected to Native American Tribes. Throughout these 300 sites, 65% have paintings, 24% have petroglyphs, 10% have both paintings and petroglyphs, and 1% have geoglyphs. Five of these sites located in Baja California show hand designs or paintings, and they all spread out in that area. These sites include Milagro de Guadalupe (23 imprints), Corral de Queno (6 imprints), Rancho Viejo (1 drawing), Piedras Gordas (5 imprints), and finally Valle Seco (3 imprints).[30]

South America
Cave painting at Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil

Serra da Capivara National Park is a national park in the north east of Brazil with many prehistoric paintings; the park was created to protect the prehistoric artifacts and paintings found there. It became a World Heritage Site in 1991. Its best known archaeological site is Pedra Furada.

It is located in northeast state of Piauí, between latitudes 8° 26' 50" and 8° 54' 23" south and longitudes 42° 19' 47" and 42° 45' 51" west. It falls within the municipal areas of São Raimundo Nonato, São João do Piauí, Coronel José Dias and Canto do Buriti. It has an area of 1291.4 square kilometres (319,000 acres). The area has the largest concentration of prehistoric small farms on the American continents. Scientific studies confirm that the Capivara mountain range was densely populated in prehistoric periods.

Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for "Cave of the Hands") is a cave located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, 163 km (101 mi) south of the town of Perito Moreno, within the borders of the Francisco P. Moreno National Park, which includes many sites of archaeological and paleontological importance.

The hand images are often negative (stencilled). Besides these there are also depictions of human beings, guanacos, rheas, felines and other animals, as well as geometric shapes, zigzag patterns, representations of the sun, and hunting scenes. Similar paintings, though in smaller numbers, can be found in nearby caves. There are also red dots on the ceilings, probably made by submerging their hunting bolas in ink, and then throwing them up. The colours of the paintings vary from red (made from hematite) to white, black or yellow. The negative hand impressions date to around 550 BC, the positive impressions from 180 BC, while the hunting drawings are calculated to more than 10,000 years old.[79] Most of the hands are left hands,[4][80] which suggests that painters held the spraying pipe with their right hand.[81][82][83]

Southeast Asia
Rock painting in Misool, Raja Ampat, Indonesia

There are rock paintings in caves in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Burma. In Thailand, caves and scarps along the Thai-Burmese border, in the Petchabun Range of Central Thailand, and overlooking the Mekong River in Nakorn Sawan Province, all contain galleries of rock paintings. In Malaysia, the Tambun rock art is dated at 2000 years, and those in the Painted Cave at Niah Caves National Park are 1200 years old. The anthropologist Ivor Hugh Norman Evans visited Malaysia in the early 1920s and found that some of the tribes (especially Negritos) were still producing cave paintings and had added depictions of modern objects including what are believed to be automobiles.[84] (See prehistoric Malaysia.). In Indonesia, the rock painting can be found in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Flores, Timor, Maluku and Papua.[85][86][87]

See also

Notes
  1. The UNESCO dates the art to 13,000–9,000 BP.[1][2]

References
  1. World Heritage Sites: a Complete Guide to 1007 UNESCO World Heritage Sites (6th ed.). UNESCO Publishing. 2014. p. 607. ISBN 978-1-77085-640-0. OCLC 910986576.
  2. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. "Cueva de las Manos, Río Pinturas". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 2021-04-14. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  3. Art & Place: Site-Specific Art of the Americas. Editorial Director: Amanda Renshaw; Text & Expertise provided by Daniel Arsenault et al. Phaidon Press. 2013. pp. 354–355. ISBN 978-0-7148-6551-5. OCLC 865298990. Archived from the original on 2021-10-29. Retrieved 2021-03-27.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. Podestá, María Mercedes; Raffino, Rodolfo A.; Paunero, Rafael Sebastián; Rolandi, Diana S. (2005). El arte rupestre de Argentina indígena: Patagonia (in Spanish). Grupo Abierto Communicaciones. ISBN 978-987-1121-16-8. Archived from the original on 2021-10-29. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  5. M. Aubert et al., "Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia", Nature volume 514, pages 223–227 (09 October 2014). "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. 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."
  6. 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 (2021-01-01). "Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi". Science Advances. 7 (3): eabd4648. Bibcode:2021SciA....7.4648B. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abd4648. ISSN 2375-2548. PMC 7806210. PMID 33523879.
  7. Ferreira, Becky (January 13, 2021). "Pig Painting May Be World's Oldest Cave Art Yet, Archaeologists Say - The depiction of the animal on an Indonesian island is at least 45,500 years old, the researchers say". The New York Times. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  8. D. L. Hoffmann; C. D. Standish; M. García-Diez; P. B. Pettitt; J. A. Milton; J. Zilhão; J. J. Alcolea-González; P. Cantalejo-Duarte; H. Collado; R. de Balbín; M. Lorblanchet; J. Ramos-Muñoz; G.-Ch. Weniger; A. W. G. Pike (2018). "U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art". Science. 359 (6378): 912–915. Bibcode:2018Sci...359..912H. doi:10.1126/science.aap7778. PMID 29472483. "we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimum ages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in Maltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship."
  9. Zimmer, Carl (7 November 2018). "In Cave in Borneo Jungle, Scientists Find Oldest Figurative Painting in the World - A cave drawing in Borneo is at least 40,000 years old, raising intriguing questions about creativity in ancient societies". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  10. Aubert, M.; et al. (7 November 2018). "Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo". Nature. 564 (7735): 254–257. Bibcode:2018Natur.564..254A. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0679-9. PMID 30405242. S2CID 53208538.
  11. Aubert, M.; et al. (11 December 2019). "Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art". Nature. 576 (7787): 442–445. Bibcode:2019Natur.576..442A. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1806-y. PMID 31827284. S2CID 209311825.
  12. Ferreira, Becky (11 December 2019). "Mythical Beings May Be Earliest Imaginative Cave Art by Humans - The paintings on an Indonesian island are at least 43,900 years old and depict humanoid figures with animal-like features in a hunting scene". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  13. Welsh, Liz; Welsh, Peter (2000). Rock-art of the Southwest: a Visitor's Companion (1st ed.). Berkeley, California: Wilderness Press. p. 62. ISBN 0-89997-258-6.
  14. Valladas, Helene (1 September 2003). "Direct radiocarbon dating of prehistoric cave paintings by accelerator mass spectrometry". Measurement Science and Technology. 14 (9): 1487–1492. doi:10.1088/0957-0233/14/9/301. S2CID 250809121.
  15. Hoffmann, D.L.; Pike, A.W.; García-Diez, M.; Pettitt, P.B.; Zilhão, J. (2016). "Methods for U-series dating of CaCO3 crusts associated with Palaeolithic cave art and application to Iberian sites". Quaternary Geochronology. 36: 104–119. doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2016.07.004.
  16. Aubert, M. et al Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo // Nature (2018)
  17. Clottes, Jean (October 2002). "Chauvet Cave (ca. 30,000 B.C.)". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  18. Pettitt, Paul (1 November 2008). "Art and the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe: Comments on the archaeological arguments for an early Upper Paleolithic antiquity of the Grotte Chauvet art". Journal of Human Evolution. 55 (5): 908–917. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.04.003. PMID 18678392.
  19. Zorich, Zach (March–April 2011). "A Chauvet Primer". Archaeology. 64 (2): 39.
  20. Ghemis, Calin; Clottes, J.; Gely, B.; Prudhomme, F. (2011). "An Exceptional Archaeological Discovery – the "Art Gallery" in Coliboaia Cave". Acta Archaeologica Carpathica. XLVI. ISSN 0001-5229. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  21. Zorich, Zach (January–February 2012). "From the Trenches – Drawing Paleolithic Romania". Archaeology. 65 (1). Retrieved 7 March 2013.
  22. Masters, Emma (May 31, 2010). "Megafauna cave painting could be 40,000 years old". Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  23. McGuirk, Rod (June 18, 2012). "Australian rock art among the world's oldest". Christian Science Monitor. AP. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  24. Gray, Richard (5 October 2008). "Prehistoric cave paintings took up to 20,000 years to complete". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
  25. Renfrew, Colin. Archaeology Theories, Methods and Practice (7th ed.). Thames and Hudson.
  26. O'Hara, K. (2014). Cave Art and Climate Change, Archway Publishing.
  27. Thurman, Judith (23 June 2008). "First Impressions: What does the world's oldest art say about us?". The New Yorker Magazine.
  28. Herzog, Werner. (2010). Cave of Forgotten Dreams. 43:25.
  29. Foundation, Bradshaw. "Hand Paintings and Symbols in Rock Art". bradshawfoundation.com.
  30. Fonseca-Ibarra, Enah (2018-01-02). "Hand Designs in Rock Art from Northern Baja California, Mexico". California Archaeology. 10 (1): 1–25. doi:10.1080/1947461X.2018.1444362. ISSN 1947-461X.
  31. "Hunting magic in rock art". Bradshaw Foundation. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 2021-05-25.
  32. Bronowski, Jacob (1990) [1973]. The Ascent of Man. London: BBC Books. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-563-20900-3.
  33. Whitley, David S. (2009). Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit: The Origin of Creativity and Belief. Prometheus. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-59102-636-5.
  34. Guthrie, R. Dale (2005). "Preface: Reassembling the Bones". The Nature of Paleolithic Art. Chicago [u.a.]: Univ. of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-31126-5. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  35. Hammond, Norman (September 11, 2009). "Cave painters' giveaway handprints at Pech-Merle". The Times. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  36. "Londoner solves 20,000-year Ice Age drawings mystery". BBC News. 2023-01-05. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
  37. Bacon, Bennett; Khatiri, Azadeh; Palmer, James; Freeth, Tony; Pettitt, Paul; Kentridge, Robert (2023-01-05). "An Upper Palaeolithic Proto-writing System and Phenological Calendar". Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 33 (3): 371–389. doi:10.1017/S0959774322000415. ISSN 0959-7743.
  38. "Башкирия: новые исследования "состарили" наскальные рисунки Каповой пещеры в два раза". u7a.ru. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  39. "Trois Frères". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  40. Tugman, Lindsey (1 September 2011). "Oldest cave drawings found in Romanian cave". CBS News. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  41. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "Why are these 32 symbols found in caves all over Europe | Genevieve von Petzinger". YouTube.
  42. Aubert, M.; et al. (2014). "Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia". Nature. 514 (7521): 223–227. Bibcode:2014Natur.514..223A. doi:10.1038/nature13422. PMID 25297435. S2CID 2725838. 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. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world.
  43. Chazine, J-M. (2005). "Rock Art, Burials, and Habitations: Caves in East Kalimantan" (PDF). Asian Perspectives. 44 (1): 219–230. doi:10.1353/asi.2005.0006. hdl:10125/17232. S2CID 53372873. Retrieved 12 May 2013. Fage, Luc-Henri (August 2005). "Hands Across Time: Exploring the Rock Art of Borneo". National Geographic. 208 (2): 44–45. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  44. "World's 'oldest known cave painting' found in Indonesia". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 2021-01-13. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  45. "Indonesia: Archaeologists find world's oldest animal cave painting". BBC News. 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  46. "Indonesia: Climate change destroying world's oldest animal painting". BBC News. 2021-05-19. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  47. Khoit tsenkher cave rock painting – UNESCO World Heritage Centre
  48. Mathpal, Yashodhar (1984). Prehistoric Painting Of Bhimbetka. Abhinav Publications. p. 220. ISBN 9788170171935.
  49. Tiwari, Shiv Kumar (2000). Riddles of Indian Rockshelter Paintings. Sarup & Sons. p. 189. ISBN 9788176250863.
  50. Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka (PDF). UNESCO. 2003. p. 16.
  51. Mithen, Steven (2011). After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000 - 5000 BC. Orion. p. 524. ISBN 9781780222592.
  52. Javid, Ali; Jāvīd, ʻAlī; Javeed, Tabassum (2008). World Heritage Monuments and Related Edifices in India. Algora Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 9780875864846.
  53. "Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka". World Heritage Site. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
  54. "Apollo 11 (ca. 25,500–23,500 B.C.) and Wonderwerk (ca. 8000 B.C.) Cave Stones". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. October 2000. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  55. St. Fleur, Nicholas (12 September 2018). "Oldest Known Drawing by Human Hands Discovered in South African Cave". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  56. Sample, Ian (2018-09-12). "Earliest known drawing found on rock in South African cave". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  57. "Australia: Oldest rock art is 17,300-year-old kangaroo". BBC News. BBC. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  58. "Whitsunday national park islands - Nature, Culture and History". Queensland Government. The State of Queensland (Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing). Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  59. "'Edakkal cave findings related to Indus Valley civilization". The New Indian Express. 2009-10-22. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  60. "Sarasvati River Indus Script Ancient Village Or". Scribd.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  61. "Symbols akin to Indus valley culture discovered". Hindustan Times. 2009-09-29. Archived from the original on 2011-01-28. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
  62. "Understanding Rock Art in Eritrea". Madote. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  63. "Qoahito Cultural Landscape". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 2021-02-16.
  64. Bakano, Otto (April 24, 2011). "Grotto galleries show early Somali life". AFP. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  65. Mire, Sada (2008). "The Discovery of Dhambalin Rock Art Site, Somaliland". African Archaeological Review. 25 (3–4): 153–168. doi:10.1007/s10437-008-9032-2. S2CID 162960112. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  66. Alberge, Dalya (17 September 2010). "UK archaeologist finds cave paintings at 100 new African sites". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
  67. Hodd, Michael (1994). East African Handbook. Trade & Travel Publications. p. 640. ISBN 0-8442-8983-3.
  68. Ali, Ismail Mohamed (1970). Somalia Today: General Information. Ministry of Information and National Guidance, Somali Democratic Republic. p. 295.
  69. Istituto universitario orientale (Naples, Italy) (1992). Annali: Supplemento, Issues 70-73. Istituto orientale di Napoli. p. 57.
  70. "Rock Art Sites of Somaliland". CyArk. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  71. Universität Frankfurt am Main (2003), "Volumes 1–2", Journal of African Archaeology, Africa Manga Verlag: 230, ISBN 9783937248004, retrieved 7 September 2014
  72. "Tassili n'Ajjer". UNESCO World Heritage Center. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  73. "Ancient cave with distinguished engravings depicting scenes of animals discovered in Sinai - Ancient Egypt - Heritage". Ahram Online. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  74. "Photos: Archaeologists uncover ancient cave in North Sinai". Egypt Independent. 2020-04-26. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  75. Jaroff, Leon (1997-06-02). "Etched in Stone". Time. Archived from the original on February 4, 2013. Retrieved 2008-10-07. Wildlife and humans tend to get equal billing in African rock art. (In the caves of western Europe, by contrast, pictures of animals cover the walls and human figures are rare.) In southern Africa, home to the San, or Bushmen, many of the rock scenes depicting people interpret the rituals and hallucinations of the shamans who still dominate the San culture today. Among the most evocative images are those believed to represent shamans deep in trance: a reclining, antelope-headed man surrounded by imaginary beasts, for example, or an insect-like humanoid covered with wild decorations.
  76. "Baja California Rock Art Dated to 7,500 Years Ago". news.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  77. Simekm Jan F.; Alan Cressler; Nicholas P. Herrmann; Sarah C. Sherwood (2013). "Sacred landscapes of the south-eastern USA: prehistoric rock and cave art in Tennessee". Antiquity. 87 (336): 430–446. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00049048. S2CID 130296519.
  78. Liwosz, Chester R. (2016-07-02). "The Archaeology and Rock Art of Swordfish Cave". California Archaeology. 8 (2): 319–321. doi:10.1080/1947461X.2016.1240852. ISSN 1947-461X.
  79. Le Comte, Christian (2003). Argentine Indians. Consorcio de Editores. ISBN 987-9479-11-4.
  80. Steele, James; Uomini, Natalie (2005). "Humans, tools and handedness" (PDF). In Roux, Valentine; Bril, Blandine (eds.). Stone Knapping: the Necessary Conditions for a Uniquely Hominin Behaviour. Cambridge, UK: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge. p. 234. ISBN 1-902937-34-1. OCLC 64118071. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-10-16. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
  81. Parfit, Michael (December 2000). "Hunt for the First Americans". National Geographic. Vol. 198, no. 6. National Geographic Society. p. 40.
  82. Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. (September 23, 2015). A Concise History of the World. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–13. ISBN 978-1-107-02837-1. OCLC 908262350.
  83. Moore, Jerry D. (2017). Incidence of travel: recent journeys in ancient South America. Boulder: University Press of Colorado. p. 100. doi:10.5876/9781607326007. ISBN 978-1-60732-600-7. JSTOR j.ctt1m3210q. LCCN 2016053403. OCLC 973325343.
  84. Weber, George. "The Semang". The Negrito of Malaysia. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  85. Oktaviana, Adhi Agus; Setiawan, Pindi (2015). "Pola Gambar Cadas di Situs Gua Harimau, Sumatera Selatan". Pusat Arkeologi Nasional: 1–10.
  86. Fauzi, Mohammad Ruly; Intan, Fadhlan S.; Wibowo, Andy S. (2019). "Newly discovered cave art sites from Bukit Bulan, Sumatra: Aligning prehistoric symbolic behavior in Indonesian prehistory". Journal of Archaeological Science. 24: 166–174. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.01.001.
  87. O'Connor, Sue (May 2018). "Unusual painted anthropomorph in Lembata island extends our understanding of rock art diversity in Indonesia". Rock Art Research. 35 (1). Retrieved 11 November 2022.

Further reading
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cave paintings.
Look up cave painting in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.