The global implications of the early surviving rock art of greater Southeast Asia

Antiquity ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (342) ◽  
pp. 1050-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul S.C. Taçon ◽  
Noel Hidalgo Tan ◽  
Sue O’Connor ◽  
Ji Xueping ◽  
Li Gang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Similar Form ◽  
Island Southeast Asia ◽  
The Difference

The rock art of Southeast Asia has been less thoroughly studied than that of Europe or Australia, and it has generally been considered to be more recent in origin. New dating evidence from Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, however, demonstrates that the earliest motifs (hand stencils and naturalistic animals) are of late Pleistocene age and as early as those of Europe. The similar form of the earliest painted motifs in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia suggests that they are the product of a shared underlying behaviour, but the difference in context (rockshelters) indicates that experiences in deep caves cannot have been their inspiration.

scholarly journals The Timing and Nature of Human Colonization of Southeast Asia in the Late Pleistocene: A Rock Art Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (S17) ◽  
pp. S553-S566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime Aubert ◽  
Adam Brumm ◽  
Paul S. C. Taçon
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Human Colonization

scholarly journals Somewhere beyond the sea: Human cranial remains from the Lesser Sunda Islands (Alor Island, Indonesia) provide insights on Late Pleistocene peopling of Island Southeast Asia

2019 ◽  
Vol 134 ◽  
pp. 102638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sofía C. Samper Carro ◽  
Felicity Gilbert ◽  
David Bulbeck ◽  
Sue O'Connor ◽  
Julien Louys ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Island Southeast Asia

Ideology, Ritual Performance and Its Manifestations in the Rock Art of Timor-Leste and Kisar Island, Island Southeast Asia

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue O'Connor ◽  
Mahirta ◽  
Daud Tanudirjo ◽  
Marlon Ririmasse ◽  
Muhammad Husni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Symbolic System ◽  
Ritual Performance ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Island Southeast Asia ◽  
Timor Leste ◽  
Neighbouring Island ◽  
Metal Age ◽  
The Western Pacific

Painted rock art occurs throughout the islands of the Western Pacific and has previously been argued to have motif and design elements in common, indicating that it was created within the context of a shared symbolic system. Here we report five new painted rock-art sites from Kisar Island in eastern Indonesia and investigate the commonalities between this art and the painted art corpus in Timor-Leste, the independent nation that forms the eastern part of the neighbouring island of Timor. We examine the motifs in the Kisar art and suggest that, rather than being Neolithic in age, some of the figurative motifs more likely have a Metal Age origin, which in this region places them within the last 2500 years.

Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags in European Context

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Southern France ◽  
European Context ◽  
The World ◽  
Cave Art ◽  
Illustrated Book

Cave art is a subject of perennial interest among archaeologists. Until recently it was assumed that it was largely restricted to southern France and northern Iberia, although in recent years new discoveries have demonstrated that it originally had a much wider distribution. The discovery in 2003 of the UK's first examples of cave art, in two caves at Creswell Crags on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border, was the most surprising illustration of this. The discoverers (the editors of the book) brought together in 2004 a number of Palaeolithic archaeologists and rock art specialists from across the world to study the Creswell art and debate its significance, and its similarities and contrasts with contemporary Late Pleistocene ("Ice Age") art on the Continent. This comprehensively illustrated book presents the Creswell art itself, the archaeology of the caves and the region, and the wider context of the Upper Palaeolithic era in Britain, as well as a number of up-to-date studies of Palaeolithic cave art in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy which serve to contextualize the British examples.

scholarly journals Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. eabd4648
Author(s):  
Adam Brumm ◽  
Adhi Agus Oktaviana ◽  
Basran Burhan ◽  
Budianto Hakim ◽  
Rustan Lebe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Karst Area ◽  
Uranium Series ◽  
Island Southeast Asia ◽  
South Sulawesi ◽  
Figurative Painting ◽  
Uranium Series Dating ◽  
Cave Paintings ◽  
Minimum Age ◽  
Cave Art

Indonesia harbors some of the oldest known surviving cave art. Previously, the earliest dated rock art from this region was a figurative painting of a Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis). This image from Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4 in the limestone karsts of Maros-Pangkep, South Sulawesi, was created at least 43,900 years ago (43.9 ka) based on Uranium-series dating. Here, we report the Uranium-series dating of two figurative cave paintings of Sulawesi warty pigs recently discovered in the same karst area. The oldest, with a minimum age of 45.5 ka, is from Leang Tedongnge. The second image, from Leang Balangajia 1, dates to at least 32 ka. To our knowledge, the animal painting from Leang Tedongnge is the earliest known representational work of art in the world. There is no reason to suppose, however, that this early rock art is a unique example in Island Southeast Asia or the wider region.

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