Free Republic

Earlier this year, a series of stone engravings of strange animals with melded bodies reignited speculation about the earliest forms of animation. Using 3D models and virtual reality software to bring ancient etchings to life, the team of archeologists argued that the stone artworks might have been dynamic representations of animals in motion if viewed in firelight...Another example lay for centuries covered in ash and dust in Shahr-e Sukhteh, an archaeological site in southeast Iran known as the 'Burnt City'. Here, researchers found an unassuming goblet bearing burnt red sketches of a jumping goat that springs to life when the...

A cave painting on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, believed to be the world's oldest, is decaying at a rapid pace because of salt erosion likely caused by climate change, archaeologists have warned. The painting of a group of therianthropes, or humans with animal characteristics, appearing to hunt animals was found in a limestone cave in 2017 and dated to nearly 44,000 years ago. Experts are now racing against time to find ways to preserve the priceless Pleistocene artwork.

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,...

"He is our national hero," says Batik Airways pilot Ricosetta Mafella. He is describing the Indonesian air traffic controller whose last act before he died was making sure the plane Mr Mafella was piloting safely escaped the earthquake and tsunami which has devastated Palu in Indonesia. Mr Mafella believes Mr Agung may have saved his life and those of his passengers. He has described him as a "guardian angel". On Friday afternoon, Anthonius Gunawan Agung, 21, was at the control tower of Palu airport as Mr Mafella's Batik Airways plane was on the runway. "I was rushing to leave....

"The death [toll] is believed to be still increasing since many bodies were still under the wreckage, while many have not been reached," Nugroho said. Aerial video showed the battered coastline around the hard-hit city of Palu, population 380,000, on the island of Sulawesi. In Donggala, a city near the epicenter, footage from MetroTV showed destroyed houses and huge areas inundated by water. Nugroho, at the disaster agency, said "tens to hundreds" of people were taking part in a beach festival in Palu when the tsunami struck. The city is built around a narrow bay that apparently magnified the force...

More than 380 people have been confirmed dead after a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake hit an Indonesian city on Friday. Waves up to 3m (10ft) high swept through Palu on Sulawesi island. Video on social media shows people screaming and fleeing in panic and a mosque among the buildings damaged. Strong aftershocks rocked the city on Saturday. Thousands of homes have collapsed, along with hospitals, hotels and a shopping centre. Rescue efforts are under way, though hampered by a major power cut. The main road to Palu has been blocked due to a landslide, and a key...

A HUGE 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia caused a powerful tsunami, cutting off communication to more than 600,000 people, and prompting authorities in the devastated region of Sulawesi to shut an airport in Palu.

A strong tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake has hit a coastal Indonesian city, officials say. Waves of up to 2m (6.6ft) high swept through Palu on Sulawesi island, not long after authorities had lifted a tsunami warning. Video on social media shows people screaming and fleeing in panic and a mosque amongst the buildings damaged. Officials have reported five deaths - but it is not clear if those were as a result of the tsunami.

... But Indonesian scientist Gegar Prasetya wasn't surprised by any of the events that occurred at dusk on Sept. 28, killing nearly 2,000 people and leaving possibly thousands more missing. He had warned people for years that the area around Sulawesi island's Palu Bay had been struck before and was due for another potential combination of factors to create a perfect storm capable of unleashing earthquakes, landslides, tsunami waves and soil liquefaction.

Foreign aid workers who rallied to the island of Sulawesi after the devastating earthquake and tsunami more than a week ago have been asked to leave the country by the Indonesian government... Clancy said international NGOs had to walk a careful line of not acting paternalistically and taking over aid operations. “There’s pushback against the international community who come flooding in days or weeks later, taking over the response. It’s about taking back that power and saying local organisations have significant capacity.” The Indonesian government, the Indonesian Red Cross and other Indonesian NGOs all have “significant capacity” for providing humanitarian...

The bodies of more than 30 children who were attending a Christian Bible camp on a northern Indonesian island were discovered Monday amid wreckage brought to the region by Friday’s magnitude 7.5 earthquake and ensuing tsunami, a Red Cross spokesperson told ABC News. The tragic discovery marks the latest reported deaths in the catastrophe. As of Tuesday, the death toll increased to at least 1,234. Indonesian rescue workers said a mudslide caused by the earthquake engulfed the church. Red Cross spokeswoman Aulia Arriani said 34 bodies of the Bible camp attendees have been found, while another 52 remained missing. The...

Full title...............Drone footage shows Indonesia tsunami devastation after 10ft wave wipes out a beach festival - sweeping away partygoers, obliterating two towns killing 832...............WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: 832 people have been killed after a 6.1 magnitude tremor hit the central Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Friday followed by a massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake Indonesia's disaster agency's Sutopo Purwo Nugroho withdrew an earlier warning to residents of a tsunami But three hours later Indonesia's geophysics agency said there had been one, and hundreds have now died The cities of Palu and Donggala were struck by 10ft waves which demolished houses and

The Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE) team, based in Griffith's Environmental Futures Research Institute, together with Indonesian colleagues, have shed new light on 'Ice Age' human culture and symbolism in a paper published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The study was co-led by Associate Professor Adam Brumm, an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow, and Dr Michelle Langley, who also holds a fellowship from the ARC, analysed the recovered artefacts, and is the country's leading expert in the study of ancient ornaments and bone technology. "Scientists have long been curious about the cultural...

The "hobbit" had neighbors. Back in 2004, researchers announced the discovery of this tiny, ancient human, which apparently hunted dwarf elephants with stone tools on the Indonesian island of Flores 18,000 years ago. Its discoverers called the 1-meter-tall creature Homo floresiensis, but skeptics wondered whether it was just a stunted modern human. In the years since, researchers have debunked many of the "sick hobbit" hypotheses. Yet scientists have continued to wonder where the species came from. Now, an international team originally led by the hobbit discoverer reports stone tools, dated to 118,000 to 194,000 years ago, from another Indonesian island,...

...among the top 10 breakthroughs was the realization, made public in October, 2014, by scientists that cave paintings discovered in 7 cave sites in the Maros karsts on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia were actually between 35,000 and 40,000 years old. The breakthrough was significant in that it was the first time that prehistoric human cave painting art found in Indonesia, or East Asia, for that matter, was found to date during time periods usually associated with the "first cave painter" works long known to exist in Europe. In the potential landmark study, the researchers used uranium-series dating of...

WASHINGTON – Ancient cave drawings in Indonesia are as old as famous prehistoric art in Europe, according to a new study that shows our ancestors were drawing all over the world 40,000 years ago. And it hints at an even earlier dawn of creativity in modern humans, going back to Africa, than scientists had thought. Archaeologists calculated that a dozen stencils of hands in mulberry red and two detailed drawings of an animal described as a "pig-deer" are between 35,000 to 40,000 years old, based on levels of decay of the element uranium. That puts the art found in Sulawesi,...

SNIPPET: "Indonesian anti-terror police, Densus 88 secure a terror suspect's house during a raid in Mojosongo, Solo in Central Java. Indonesian police have arrested 11 members of an Islamic group allegedly planning attacks on American diplomatic missions, a spokesman says." SNIPPET: "The group had planned to hit the US embassy and a US consulate, as well as a building near the Australian embassy in the capital Jakarta that houses the office of American mining giant Freeport-McMoran, police said. Police said they were from a new outfit called HASMI, the Sunni Movement for Indonesian Society, and explosives and a bomb-making manual...

Indonesian police have reportedly captured the nation's most wanted terrorist suspect in a raid in central java. Earlier reports that Abdullah Sunata was killed in the raid have proved unfounded. Abdullah Sunata is suspected of being a key member of the cell discovered in Aceh earlier this year. He was a veteran of religious conflict in Ambon and Sulawesi and a senior member of the network headed by the late Noordin Mohammad Top. He was previously jailed over his role in the bombing of the Australian Embassy in 2004. And he was arrested along with another man, who'd also been...

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) is warning of imminent terrorist attacks in Indonesia, possibly in Bali. Australians are being urged not to travel there with intelligence reports suggesting terrorists are planning attacks against western targets. The Department warns the attacks could happen at any time and Australians in Indonesia should avoid known targets. "There have been recent arrests of high level terrorist operatives in Indonesia, but we assess terrorists are continuing active planning of attacks," the Department said in a statement. "These attacks could take place at any time and could be imminent. Australians should consider this information...

Police and troops on Sulawesi were put on high alert, because military intelligence had picked up information indicating that Islamic radicals from all over Indonesia were moving to Sulawesi in an attempt to launch a spectacular attack on local Christians. Australia has warned its citizens to stay away from Central Sulawesi, where most of the violence tends to take place. To make matters worse, the Christians are ready to strike back if the Islamic terrorists go after them again. Over the last few years, some 2,000 people have died in religious strife on Sulawesi. The Islamic radicals need a spectacular...