Discovery: The oldest cave painting has come to light

The past catches up with us in the most surprising ways, including those related to art. The oldest example of figurative cave art was discovered in the Indonesian island of Sulawesi by Australian and Indonesian scientists. The painting of a wild pig and three human-like figures is at least 51,200 years old, more than 5,000 years older than the oldest known rock art. The painting was found in the Leang Karampuang cave in the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi, researchers from Griffith University, Southern Cross University and the Indonesian National Agency for Research and Innovation wrote in the journal Nature. The samples were collected in 2017 but were not dated until earlier this year. The previous record holder was a life-size painting of a wild boar believed to have been created at least 45,500 years ago in a cave in Leang Tedongnge. The newly discovered painting depicts three therianthropes - or human-animal hybrids - and a wild pig. Adhi Agus Oktaviana, lead author and PhD student at Griffith University, said the findings were "very surprising, none of the famous European Ice Age artworks are as old as this, except for some controversial finds in Spain". The discovery contradicts the academic view that early figurative cave art consisted of single-figure panels, rather than scenes in which the figures interacted with each other. The researchers used uranium series dating to date the calcium carbonate layers that formed on top of the painting. This involved extracting limestone samples which were then vaporized with a laser. The age of the sample was calculated by measuring the ratio of thorium to uranium. The researchers said this method allowed for more precise dating of the layers, ensuring that younger and older materials were not mixed. The researchers also dated art from a nearby cave - Leang Bulu' Sipong 4 - previously thought to be the world's oldest cave art. They found that the artwork, which was thought to be at least 44,000 years old, was at least 48,000 years old.