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A life-sized painting of a wild pig in a cave on Sulawesi, Indonesia, is at least 45,500 years old, one of the oldest known pictures of an animal.

Science Advances, 2021

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The painting, in the cave of Leang Tedongnge, shows a Sulawesi warty pig about 136 by 54 centimetres, drawn in dark red ochre, a natural iron-rich pigment, with two hand stencils above its back. A team led by Adam Brumm and Maxime Aubert dated it with uranium-series dating: they measured how much uranium had slowly turned into thorium in a thin mineral crust that grew over the paint. Because the crust formed after the painting, the result is a minimum age. Sulawesi lies between Asia and Australia, on the sea route early modern humans took. Older art has since been dated nearby: a scene of a pig and human-like figures in Leang Karampuang, at least 51,200 years old (2024), and a hand stencil on Muna island, at least 67,800 years old (2026).

Türkçe oku
Endonezya'nın Sulawesi adasındaki bir mağarada, gerçek boyutlarda bir yaban domuzu resmi var ve en az 45.500 yıllık. Bu resim, bilinen en eski hayvan resimlerinden biridir.
Science Advances, 2021

Resim, Leang Tedongnge Mağarası'ndadır ve yaklaşık 136'ya 54 santimetre boyutunda bir Sulawesi siğilli domuzunu gösterir. Demir bakımından zengin, doğal bir kırmızı toprak boya olan koyu kırmızı aşı boyasıyla yapılmıştır; domuzun sırtının üstünde, eli duvara dayayıp çevresine boya püskürtülerek çıkarılmış iki el izi vardır. Adam Brumm ile Maxime Aubert'in yönettiği ekip resmi uranyum serisi yöntemiyle tarihlendirdi: Boyanın üstünde zamanla oluşan ince mineral kabuktaki uranyumun ne kadarının yavaş yavaş toryuma dönüştüğünü ölçtüler. Kabuk resimden sonra oluştuğu için bu yöntem resmin en az kaç yaşında olduğunu verir. Sulawesi, Asya ile Avustralya arasında, ilk modern insanların denizden izlediği yolun üzerindedir. O günden bu yana yakın çevrede daha eski eserler tarihlendi: Leang Karampuang Mağarası'nda bir domuz ve insana benzeyen figürlerden oluşan en az 51.200 yıllık bir sahne (2024) ve Muna adasında en az 67.800 yıllık bir el izi (2026).

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst
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