The oldest work of art in the world has been discovered

The cave painting of a large wild boar and three human figures around it would be the oldest work of art in the worldof about 51,000 yearsaccording to a team of scientists.

The archaeological discovery was announced by a group of scientists who had already discovered in 2019 a hunting scene in another nearby cave that was then estimated to be 44,000 years of antiquity. This new painting, made with red pigments, “It is the oldest evidence of a narrative”he assured Maxime Aubertarchaeologist of the Australian Griffith University.

“This is the first time we have surpassed the 50,000-year barrier”“Our discovery suggests that storytelling was a much older part of human history… than previously thought,” said co-author Aubert, who co-authored a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. “Our discovery suggests that storytelling was a much older part of human history… than previously thought,” said another of the authors, archaeologist Adam Brumm, at a news conference.

The implementation of a new research method

To date the discovery, the researchers used a New method using lasers and computer software. It is a more precise, easier, faster, cheaper laser ablation technique and requires much smaller rock samples than the previous uranium series method, Aubert said.

The team first tested the new technique in the preceding cave where the system determined that the hunting scene had at least 48,000 years old4,000 years older than the uranium series method determined in 2019.

The team then applied this laser method to an undated painting in another cave in the Sulawesi Island, Indonesia, discovered in 2017 and was determined to have at least 51,200 years old, surpassing the previous record.

What is the meaning of the painting?

The painting, which is in poor condition, shows three people around a wild boar. “We don’t know exactly what they are doing”Aubert admitted. He speculated that the paintings were probably made by the first group of humans that moved through the Southeast Asian before reaching Australia some 65,000 years ago.

“It’s probably just a matter of time before we find samples that are older,” Aubert added. Humans first evolved in Africa over 300,000 years ago.The earliest known images are simple lines and sketches in ochre, found in South Africa, dating back 100,000 years.

But then there is a “huge void” in human art to the cave paintings of Indonesia, 50,000 years later, Aubert said. “The question is, why isn’t it everywhere?“One theory is that art elsewhere didn’t survive all those millennia. Another is that prehistoric art might still be out there, waiting to be discovered.

The origin of narrative and rock art

Previously It was thought that the first narrative art had emerged in Europe. A statue of “lion man” found in Germany dates back around 40,000 years.

The date given for the Indonesian cave art is “quite provocative” because it is much older than what has been found elsewhere, including in Europe, he said. Chris Stringeran anthropologist from the Natural History Museum, London.

Stringer, who was not involved in the research, said the findings of the experienced team seemed solid but needed to be confirmed by further dating. “In my opinion, This discovery reinforces the idea that figurative art was first produced in Africa.more than 50,000 years ago, and that the concept spread as our species dispersed,” he said.