Paris (AFP)
It is undoubtedly the oldest figurative art known: a prehistoric hunting scene painted more than 40,000 years ago, whose half-human and half-animal representations suggest an accomplished artistic culture, even the beginnings of 'a religion, was discovered in a cave in Indonesia.
On a panel 4.5 meters wide, we see six mammals (wild pigs and dwarf buffaloes) pursued by a group of hunters armed with spears and ropes, reports a study published Wednesday in Nature. These hunters are drawn with a human body but an animal head (bird, reptile, etc.) - so-called "thérianthropes" figures.
This monochrome painting was unearthed in 2017 on the limestone walls of a cave on the site of Leang Bulu Sipong, on the Indonesian island of Celebes, in a fairly degraded state.
To date the work, a team from the Australian University Griffith has used a very precise dating method that uses uranium-thorium on the mineral blisters (called "popcorn") agglomerated on the painting.
According to the researchers, the painting dates back to the Upper Paleolithic period and is "at least 43,900 years old". What makes them, according to them, "the oldest hunting scene of prehistoric art" known to date.
It is even, "to (their) knowledge, the oldest work of figurative art in the world".
It dethroned the ivory sculpture of a lion-headed man found in Germany, considered until now as the oldest representation of a therianthrope creature (40,000 years), explains the study.
For comparison, the rock paintings in France of the Chauvet cave (Ardèche) date back to around 35,000 years, those of Lascaux (Dordogne) to around 20,000 years. In both cases, "these are maximum ages because the dates come from the charcoal pigment and tell us about the date on which the tree died, not the one where the charcoal was used to draw", explains to AFP the archaeologist Maxime Aubert.
The method applied for the site of Leang Bulu Sipong allows, it, to determine a minimum age because "it dates precisely the mineral concretions which are formed naturally on the painting", details the researcher.
- Endangered paintings -
"This is the first time such a detailed narrative has been identified at such an early time," say the researchers in a statement. The fine creatures representing the hunters, painted with dark red pigment, are simplified and very stylized, with for example elongated faces resembling snouts.
"The main components of a highly advanced artistic culture, including figurative art, narrative scenes and therianthrropes, were present 44,000 years ago" in this region of Asia, says Maxime Aubert, who adds: "according to a received idea, the rock art appeared in Europe, and consisted of abstract symbolic representations ".
This discovery, coupled with that of a figurative painting of a 40,000-year-old wild ox, found last year on the island of Borneo, makes Indonesia "one of the most important parts of the world for understand the beginnings of parietal art and the evolution of modern human thought, "according to the researchers.
These images of therianthus might also be the first evidence of human capacity to "conceive of things that do not exist in nature, a basic concept that underpins modern religion," argues Professor Adam Brumm.
This art could express "a spirituality based on a special link between men and animals", well before Europe, the researchers add.
They take the opportunity to warn about the bad condition of the walls of the cave, which deteriorate at high speed, threatening to erase the work.
"It would be tragic if this ancestral art disappears in our lifetime, and yet this is what is happening, it is urgent to understand why," they conclude.
© 2019 AFP