The oldest paintings in the world are in East Kalimantan

The international research team led by Indonesian archaeologists managed to find a 40,000-year-old figurative painting in East Kalimantan.

The oldest known painting in the world will be proposed as a world cultural heritage. Minister of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) Muhadjir Effendy said that figurative painting, which after being tested with the method of analysis of uranium aged 40,000 years, is very important for Indonesia and the world.

Through this research, he said, the world will know that in the past 40,000 years there have been high civilizations in the territory of Indonesia.

“This painting is the oldest in the world and this is very important because it shows there is a very high civilization. We will examine again from a broader aspect, “Muhadjir said at the Ministry of Education and Culture Office, Jakarta, yesterday.

Minister of Education and Culture said, Ministry of Education and Culture will propose the findings of the world’s oldest rock images as a world cultural heritage to UNESCO. He is optimistic that the painting can become a world heritage, because this is an international scale discovery.

Muhadjir said that the government would also involve archaeologists from foreign universities who already had good reputations to conduct in-depth studies of these findings.

The oldest rock images in the world that are known to have a minimum date are 40,000 years old and are images of an unidentified animal. It is probably a wild bull species that is still found in the interior of East Kalimantan.

It is well known that since the 1990s, caves in the peninsula of the karst mountains have indeed been found in a series of ancient images of human hands, abstract symbols, and motives.

Rock picture specialists from the Arkenas Research Center Adhi Agus Oktaviana said, in addition to the image of an animal that has been identified as 40,000 years old, there is a possibility that the tread will also show the same age.

The co leader of the research team explained that the discovery of this painting shows that the tradition of rock images of the Paleolithic period first appeared in Borneo around 52,000 and 40,000 years ago.

The head of the National Archeology Research Center (Arkenas Research Center) I Made Geria said, the collaboration of an international research team between the Arkenas Research Center, Griffith University, and ITB succeeded in finding the world’s 40,000-year-old figurative painting on the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat Peninsula, East Kalimantan.

“The caves on the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat Peninsula indeed store the potential and assets of prehistoric civilizations, especially cave paintings. This potential must be seen as cultural capital to advance the wealth of regional culture and Indonesia, “he said.

The rock drawing specialist from ITB Pindi Setiawan said that who was the artist in the ice age in Borneo and what had happened to them was a mystery.

The results of this calendar also indicate that there were major changes to the rock art image culture of Borneo around 20,000 years ago. This is indicated by the presence of new styles in rock art when the global climate in the ice age reaches the most extreme levels.

Griffith University archaeologist Adam Brumm said the research conducted by the Indonesian and Australian teams gave the view that rock images spread from Kalimantan to Sulawesi and other new worlds outside Eurasia.

Furthermore, it appeared together with the first people to colonize Australia. Through this discovery of rock images, Europe is no longer the center of the development of rock images.

“It now appears that two of the oldest rock images appeared at almost the same time at the farthest and most remote ends of the Eurasian Paleolithic. One in Indonesia and one in Europe, which is the opposite of the ice age, “he said.


Source : https://nasional.sindonews.com/read/1353226/15/lukisan-gua-tertua-di-dunia-ada-di-kalimantan-timur-1541741853