The oldest evidence of storytelling rock art was discovered more than 51,000 years ago.
Experts were surprised to find the figurative cave painting on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
It appears to represent a big red pig and a group of people – but can you make out how many?
“This is the oldest evidence of storytelling,” Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia, told AFP.
The discovery marks the first time that the 50,000-year barrier has been surpassed, researchers say in the journal Nature.
Aubert was involved in the last record-breaker in 2019, which showed a hunting scene estimated to be almost 44,000 years old.
“It’s probably just a matter of time before we find older samples,” he added.
Scientists were able to carefully reveal the fascinating illustration using a new laser technique.
Together with sophisticated computer software, they were able to create a “map” of rock samples.
This laser technique is more accurate, easier, faster, cheaper and requires much smaller rock samples than the previous uranium series method.
“Our discovery suggests that storytelling was a much older part of human history… than previously thought,” study co-author Adam Brumm said at a news conference.
The image could rewrite our understanding of human cognitive evolution.
However, the researchers admit that we don’t really know what they are doing with the artwork.
Aubert believes the paintings were likely created by the first group of humans who moved through Southeast Asia before arriving in Australia around 65,000 years ago.
The first images made by humans are simple lines and patterns made in ocher, found in South Africa, dating back to 100,000 years ago.
But then there is a “huge gap” in human art until Indonesian cave paintings 50,000 years later.
“The question is, why isn’t it everywhere?” Aubert said.
One theory is that artwork elsewhere hasn’t survived all these millennia.
Another is that ancient art may still be out there, waiting to be discovered.
And if you’re wondering how many people are shown in the art, there are three – see the image below to find out where they are located.
two
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