Posted on 11/07/2018 6:51:36 PM PST by Simon Green
IN limestone caves hidden deep in the jungle of Borneo, archaeologists have discovered the oldest known figurative drawing created by a human artist, dating back at least 40,000 years.
The ancient artwork is incomplete, but appears to depict a large mammal probably a type of wild cow with an oval-shaped body, thin legs and a spear sticking out of its rump.
To our knowledge, the large animal painting is the oldest figurative rock art in the world, the researchers wrote in a study describing the find published Wednesday in Nature.
The authors also note that the painting and others like it were made at roughly the same time period as animal figurines carved from mammoth tusks that were discovered in west-central Germany.
This suggests that humans on opposite ends of Eurasia began creating figurative art at about the same time, they said.
But who these ancient Bornean artists were, whether they had a relationship with artists in the west, and what motivated them to leave their creative marks on the limestone caves remains a mystery.
All we have at the moment is what they left on the cave walls, said Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia who led the new work.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
>>IN limestone caves hidden deep in the jungle of Borneo, archaeologists have discovered the oldest known figurative drawing created by a human artist, dating back at least 40,000 years...
The authors also note that the painting and others like it were made at roughly the same time period as animal figurines carved from mammoth tusks that were discovered in west-central Germany.
This suggests that humans on opposite ends of Eurasia began creating figurative art at about the same time, they said.
But who these ancient Bornean artists were, whether they had a relationship with artists in the west... remains a mystery.
I doubt there were many people walking from Borneo to Germany 40,000 years ago
Hope he kept his day job.
Hmmmmm...maybe there was a “caravan ? ??
Its the earliest Far Side cartoon. Look! zog! Org stab big bad Zoing in azz with stick! Sure will miss him
Why, its like looking at a photograph!
Just another Troglodyte wasting time in a Cave.
One of the Butt sisters.
“I’ll sock to ya, Daddy!”
Thanks a fool in paradise.
Early instruction diagram?
Yes, as in "What not to do."
Or maybe it's a cartoon. The note on the arrow probably read "Bachelors: how and where to find a piece of @ss."
What’s interesting about this is that these painting occurred in the same time frame as the cave paintings in Germany.
The reason this is interesting is that 40000 years later european Sailors get out to Hawaii and other pacific Island within a thousand years of Polynesians arriving from north of Australia using ships with similar technologies navigating by way of similar insights into the stars.
Its almost as if at the deepest level humans all over the planet have been progressing at roughly the same speed—even without interaction.
It had to be a distant ancestor of mine.
I always start art projects and never finish them.
:)
I would guess that the artists were right-handed--they are making stencils of their left hands.
One look at Europe vs. Africa when the latter was discovered by the former would convince you differently. When Europeans set foot on islands so close to the African coast that you could see them from the mainland, they were the first homo sapiens to have done so.
If two disparate populations discover the same technology at roughly the same period of time, the most obvious reason why would be some form of communication between them, rather than divine providence.
Here is another link I found at AOL. It also had some good photos of Chauvet Cave in France and other related links.
Thanks!
A picture of Rosie O’Donnell, Maxine WatersBuffalo, Nancy Pelosi or Lena Dunham?
I knew that Pelosi and Waters were OLD, but NOT THAT OLD. My bad.
Gary Larson is better
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.