Oldest cave art found showing humans and pig
Australian and Indonesian scientists unearthed the world's oldest figurative cave art in Indonesia, dating back 51,200 years. This finding challenges human evolution timelines, emphasizing narrative storytelling's early cultural significance.
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Australian and Indonesian scientists have discovered the world's oldest figurative cave art on the Indonesian Island of South Sulawesi. The painting, at least 51,200 years old, depicts a wild pig and three human-like figures, showcasing the capacity for creative thought in early humans. This finding challenges previous notions about the timeline of human evolution and storytelling abilities. The discovery suggests that narrative storytelling was a crucial aspect of early human culture in Indonesia. The art represents an evolution in human thought processes, leading to the emergence of art and science. The dating method used for this discovery may lead to re-dating of other cave art sites worldwide, potentially pushing back the origins of representational art further. This finding reinforces the idea that representational art likely originated in Africa before spreading to other regions. The discovery sheds new light on the role of storytelling in the history of art and human evolution.
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18 commentsHmm. The very simplest model you could have of this would be the German Tank Problem [1]. If discoveries of X (e.g. art, hunting tools, whatever) are made at random, i.e. evidence of X is not more likely to be destroyed as time passes, then you are sampling times from a distribution with a maximum of the first invention of X, and the best estimator for this is (m-1)(k-1)/(k-2) where m is the oldest discovery and k is the number of discoveries.
In particular, a new record for oldest art will almost always push your estimate up (as long as k is large so (k-1)/(k-2) is about 1). But you should also be taking into account all the discoveries of art which aren't records. This matters especially when k is not yet big. This page only lists 30-40 pieces of paleolithic art [2].
A better model would take into account that older stuff is less likely to be discovered because e.g. rocks erode. I wonder if anyone has done this.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stone_Age_art
This was 50,000 years ago, they were Homo Sapiens, we are 200,000 years old. We can see abstract thinking through the advancement of our early tools and through linguistic studies that trace lineage of abstract language patterns to points in time using archeological knowledge of migration periods. So this confirms it further I guess.
https://news.griffith.edu.au/2024/07/04/cave-painting-in-ind...
I'm not entirely convinced about the human-like figures, though. Does anyone have more background knowledge on how one can jump to that conclusion?
Edit: found the publication in Nature. The picture circulating in the media is a tracing of the actual painting, which is nearly impossible to see on the actual rock. Enjoy! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07541-7
Isn't the current estimate, that Neanderhals and Danisovans died out around 45000 years ago? Or does he refer only to the region of the cave? And the Homo floresiensis died out 10000 years ago (or 100 years ago, or he still exists, if some Anthropologists are right).
And what I do not understand about the cave archeology: nobody who lives as a nomadic hunter & gatherer lives in a cave. The climate inside is near unbearable if you are accustomed to free air. Maybe one can stay a little time in the mouth of a cave. When the weather conditions outside are as ugly as they can get. Or if the population density got so bad, that an easy to defend place is necessary. The findings IMO are more probable a result of population dynamics than brain development.
https://www.leidenmedievalistsblog.nl/images/uploads/_fullla...
Why are these cave paintings with hands all over the world? It is kind of ominous to think of the reasons and conditions why they are found everywhere.
It would be cool to have a history painting, of all that happened on earth as we know it today. Similar to the empires history painted in the foundation in a cave. All those discoveries, all those triumphs and failures. One huge picture.
It would also make sense to search for similar painted caves near caves where such paintings are discovered, expecting filled up cave entrances and collapsed entrances (erosion, ocean, etc.) . Goto outdo the Johnosons next door. Even back then.
Source: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parque_nacional_de_la_Sierra_d...
Oh, the sea-faring stories these people must have told.
I know there's science behind the dating of these artifacts, but it just feels that way to me.
Sulawesi: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Sulawesi&iax=images&ia=images
Any fundamental change in the human brain would imply a fundamental change in the human form, to enable acting on the enhanced understanding. Otherwise, the enhanced understanding would be useless for survival.
The contrapositive would mean that for as long as the human form has been about the same, human ingenuity and creativity have also remained about the same.
If you want to locate when human creativity and ingenuity began, it will have been at or before the basic structure of the hands, larynx, feet, eyes, etc. came to be.
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