World's oldest cave art: Half-animal, half-human hybrids depicted on oldest discovered cave art

CNN/msn.com ^ | Ashley Strickland

[RoosterRedux]

Cave art depicting a hunting scene has been found in Indonesia dated to 44,000 years old, making it the oldest rock art created by humans.

The painting itself is intriguing because it shows a group of figures that represent half-animal, half-human hybrids called therianthropes. The therianthropes are hunting warty pigs and dwarf buffaloes called anoas using spears and ropes.

The abstract figures depict a story, which changes our view of early human cognition, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The art could even show the foundation of human spirituality, given the supernatural scene depicted.

"To me, the most fascinating aspect of our research is that humanity's oldest cave art is at least 44,000 years old and it already has all the key components relating to modern cognition, [like] hand stencils, figurative art, storytelling, therianthropes and religious thinking," said Maxime Aubert, study author and professor of archaeological science at Griffith University. "So it must have a much older origin, possibly in Africa or soon after we left Africa."

Sulawesi, Indonesia is home to many intriguing limestone caves where other discoveries have been made. The same group of researchers previously found one of the oldest rock art hand stencils here in 2014, which was dated to 40,000 years ago.

"There are at least 242 known cave art sites in this area of Sulawesi and probably hundreds more awaiting discovery in this one part of the island alone," Aubert said. "The rest of this enormous island, the world's 11th largest, has barely been explored at all for cave art, so who knows what else is out there. The same goes for the rest of Indonesia -- it is likely there are many more ancient art sites hidden away there."

[RoosterRedux]

The Book of Enoch (I Enoch) spoke of those fallen angels who intermingle with human women also doing what sounded like genetic engineering with animal/human hybrids.

I think the Book of Giants and others spoke of the same thing.

I have read articles on ancient Mesopotamian and Sumerian literature which spoke of the same thing. The apkallu (demigods) of ancient Babel were said to be hybrids and the ancient god/demon Dagon was supposedly a part man/part fish demigod (which, if so, might explain why he didn't die in the Great Flood).

[Buttons12]

Sounds like camouflage...but it looks more like tribal emblems. (I’m from the jackal clan, so I’m wearing my symbolic ears.) Early humans were big on totems. Come to think of it, so are modern humans.

[trisham]

While it is fascinating, for the most part, it’s a guessing game.

[Verginius Rufus]

44,000 years old. So old they were painted when Sulawesi was still called Celebes.

[Mastador1]

And to think some TV writer thought he was being original when he thought up 'Manimal"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugb_TIpPoWA

[minnesota_bound]

One day or has it already happened....?
A toy doll and pacemaker and dentures will be found in a cave.