Posted on 05/19/2021 5:09:19 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Indonesian rock art is decaying at an alarming rate due to the effects of climate change, researchers said.
This includes a picture of a wild pig drawn 45,500 years ago on the island of Sulawesi - said to be the world's oldest animal cave painting.
Other cave motifs in the region depicting hunting scenes and supernatural beings have also crumbled faster as temperatures increase.
The findings signal that more needs to be done to preserve the priceless art.
"[These pieces of art are] disappearing before our eyes," study lead Dr Jillian Huntley, from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, said in a press statement.
In a study published in Scientific Reports last week, a team of Australian and Indonesian researchers found that increased temperatures and other extreme weather patterns - such as consecutive dry days and heavy monsoons - have accelerated the build-up of salts within the cave systems housing the rock art.
The salts swell and shrink as the environment heats and cools. On hot days, geological salts can grow to more than three times their initial size, the team wrote.
Dr Huntley added that she believed the "degradation of this incredible rock art is set to worsen the higher global temperatures climb."
"I was gobsmacked by how prevalent the destructive salt crystals and their chemistry were on the rock art panels, some of which we know to be more than 40,000 years old," she said.
"We urgently need further rock art and conservation research to have the best chance of preserving the Pleistocene cave paintings of Indonesia."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
I wonder: For how much of the 44,000 years since this was created has it been exposed to the elements? Was the cave previously sealed in some way, which would tend to minimize humidity fluctuations?
The Taliban destroyed thousands of pieces of art, including very large ancient rock carvings.
Or, is this just more pearl clutching?
Translation: give us all your money.
Take a picture, it lasts longer
Wow, I had not realized that there was absolutely positively no climate changes during the past 45,000+ years.
Silly me. I shall destroy my car immediately to stop the changes.
PING
This includes a picture of a wild pig drawn 45,500 years ago on the island of Sulawesi - said to be the world's oldest animal cave painting.
And that is relevant how?
Some wild man made a drawing of wild pigs before killing it and having it for dinner so what?
So... the weather has been constant for the last 45,000 years and now it’s not? Not only that but it’s all our fault?
I don’t suppose the regular presence of people looking at the paintings and breathing out CO2 could be an issue, could it?
So, no ice-ages. No Older Dryas. No Younger Dryas. No Boller Oscillations. No wind-direction changes?
Ummm. Yeah.
> “[These pieces of art are] disappearing before our eyes,” study lead Dr Jillian Huntley, from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, said in a press statement. <
“Send us lots of money so we can fix this,” Dr Huntley added. “And please remember that you have no right to question our findings.”
/s
>>The findings signal that more needs to be done to preserve the priceless art.
“priceless art”
Eh, it wasn’t created as art.
It is valuable as historical artifact.
It was always ephemeral
My Jimi Hendrix poster has faded badly.
Nothing more than a menu.
Yes.
Like Marty McFly.
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