Historical discovery: The oldest work of art in the world

Nature Magazine The discovery of the world’s oldest cave painting was announced this Wednesday 51,200 years old In a cave on the island of Celebes (Indonesia). It is about one Illustration of humans hunting a wild boar, This shows that scenes involving people and animals in art have much more ancient origins than previously thought.

One of the most difficult tasks for scientists is to trace the origin of rock art. In 2018, archaeologist Maxime Aubert, an expert in archaeology from Griffith University in Australia and one of theis responsible for the publication Found in the journal Nature Borneo (Indonesia) Figurative Painting The oldest animal, dated Since 40,000 years ago. in the next year, 2019, There was another painting which some people believed to be even older 44,000 years

On another island in Indonesia.

More precise laser technology has improved sample analysis

However, at present, More precise thanks to the laser method have been able to ascertain that one of the paintings discovered is Even more antiquity. For example, the 2019 one is at least 48,000 years old and the 2018 one is even older: more than 50,000 years old. “For the first time, we have reliably dated rock art over 50,000 years”, This scientist is reassuring.

this new The technique is called LA-U-series, And it includes a laser to analyze the finer details and get better calculations. “In short, it’s more accurate and efficient,” explains Aubert. This fact shows that Small samples are required,

Harmful so, Work from zero. This method can be applied to other images and possibly Other geological references Like sandstone.

Painting is the oldest way of telling stories

Rock art is one of the oldest forms of storytelling, whether it represents a hunt or some other event. The ability to tell stories is a Basic features in human evolution.

The first discoveries in Indonesia proved that this type of art existed It is not native to Europe, Exactly as expected. “There is nothing more in the middle than what we currently know,” admits Aubert, though he is confident in future discoveries: “We’ll likely find older rock art.”

In Europe, old animal pictures They are from the French Chauvet Cave, which They are over 30,000 years old. These latest findings bring to light the question of whether its inhabitants Asia and Europe invented symbolic art in their own ways Or if those who conquered the world from Africa were already artists who told stories through images. “This is a paradigm shift, Garrett mentions about the Indonesian work found in recent years, “We started to think about possibilities other than Eurocentrism.” Now for scientists The idea is to find out who were the people who made these figures Or learn a little more about them.

At all times, scientists have created Emphasis on continuous research, Because at any time a new discovery can provide new data that changes the theories that have prevailed so far. “The “Humans have probably been telling stories for over 51,200 years,” Aubert explains.

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