Earliest cave paintings produced by humans Discovered , 40,000 years old

The paintings were discovered on the Indonesian Island of Sulawesi and are now believed to be the earliest cave paintings found so far.

Hands from the past , this is the oldest hand stencil in the world according Dr Aubert dated at 39,900 years old

In this Nature Video, we explore a cave in Indonesia that’s home to some of the oldest paintings in the world. The hand stencils and paintings of animals were created between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago – making them at least as old as similar artwork in Europe.

“Our discovery on Sulawesi shows that cave art was made at opposite ends of the Pleistocene Eurasian world at about the same time, suggesting these practices have deeper origins, perhaps in Africa before our species left this continent and spread across the globe,” said Dr Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist at the University of Wollongong.
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This painting, from Bone, is of a variety a wild endemic dwarfed bovid found only in Sulawesi, which the inhabitants probably hunted

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Neat. Looks like someone took a can of spray paint and sprayed around their hand in a cave to make an outline. Does this mean they had spray paint thirty five thousand years ago?

originally posted by: gortex

This painting, from Bone, is of a variety a wild endemic dwarfed bovid found only in Sulawesi, which the inhabitants probably hunted

Cave art, animals....


Just imagine all the 'Practice/learning' attempts before they created such well proportioned images. When I see cave art, I always wonder where they practiced before they were able to create such nearly anatomically correct representations.

a reply to: rickymouse

No they fill their mouths with dye/paint and blow/spray the mixture over their hands.lol

a reply to: rickymouse

If they're created the same way as other ones I've seen yes , only the spray can is their mouth with a tube or straw used as a nozzle the paint is on the artists armor hand.

a reply to: SLAYER69

That's my favorite one ....stunning

Sweet looking cave too .

originally posted by: SLAYER69

originally posted by: gortex

This painting, from Bone, is of a variety a wild endemic dwarfed bovid found only in Sulawesi, which the inhabitants probably hunted

Cave art, animals....


Just imagine all the 'Practice/learning' attempts before they created such well proportioned images. When I see cave art, I always wonder where they practiced before they were able to create such nearly anatomically correct representations.

I see what you did there...

a reply to: EnigmaAgent

Yup, spray paint technology was invented forty thousand years ago. They just didn't use a can. You could also stick a straw in the other end too after eating beans. No paint mixing necessary.

originally posted by: rickymouse
Neat. Looks like someone took a can of spray paint and sprayed around their hand in a cave to make an outline. Does this mean they had spray paint thirty five thousand years ago?

Essentially yes.

www.bradshawfoundation.com...

The hand image would have been created in a variety of ways: the artist may have used the hand on the rock as a stencil, spraying paint from the mouth or charcoal powder through a reed; the outline of the hand may have been painted around by brush; or simply painting the hand and then placing it on the rock.

Edit:

D'oh. ATSers of all shapes and sizes beat me to it.

a reply to: rickymouse



Sorry couldn't resist.

a reply to: gortex

40,000 years ago?

But, but, but are'nt we only 6,000 years old ????

originally posted by: rickymouse
Neat. Looks like someone took a can of spray paint and sprayed around their hand in a cave to make an outline. Does this mean they had spray paint thirty five thousand years ago?

They chewed up red berries in their mouths, and then blew the contents out over their hand.

Sounds like something bored teenagers do ... "hi Mum, can I have the torch? It's raining outside and dad doesn't want us going out. We'd like to explore the back of the cave" "Ok love, here's the torch, Here's some treats and some redberry sauce I've made for you. Linda gave me the recipe. Be careful back there"

"Ugh, this sauce tastes awful... "

a reply to: stormcell



Had to laugh at the Cavewoman called Linda

But you're probably not far off the mark there - they would have had long periods of boredom, between avoiding being eaten, of course - so would have had to fill the time somehow. I imagine in my head they had story telling, all sat around the camp fire and used these images to help tell the tale.

a reply to: SecretKnowledge

They're obviously faked, placed there by the Devil!

That goat drawing is strange. . . it's very intricately designed and well-drawn for a "primative".

Look at all the other cave drawings around the world. . . they pale in comparison. . . like a 8 year old compared to a teenager. Hope you get what I mean.

Nice long fingers. Maybe she/he played rock guitar.

Awesome!
The drawings are really nice, seems the artist(s) really practiced that skill before.
I wonder how many more are there (and maybe older?) lost, buried or just forgotten to be found one day.

40k years is a long time... changes one's perception.

A much "younger" cave drawing.
If the walls could talk, what a tale they would tell.

ueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of Hands) is a cave or a series of caves located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, 163 km (101 mi) south of the town of Perito Moreno. It is famous (and gets its name) for the paintings of hands. The art in the cave dates from 13,000 to 9,000 years ago.

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a reply to: gortex

If you notice, some of the hands are lefties. More than would be average according to modern day stats on left-handedness. About 1 in 10 people nowadays are left-handed and most of the 10% tend to be male. In the images, we see it's closer to a third. I don't know if there's a higher number of lefties amongst the creatives of humanity.

In the last few years, a couple of studies suggested that the 'hand stencils' were mostly done by women. This was based on the average finger lengths of those in the cave art and the smaller sizes of the hands. It's likely that the average finger lengths were calculated from modern human populations because the number of complete skeletal hands from 40-30kya .

I'm just pointing this out to show how much can be learned from such basic art. It could imply cultural differences whereby females were the pioneering artists or that early humans had slightly different hand physiology that didn't have the same features we do now. It could also be possible that our ancestors had ambidextrous handedness.

We could probably find answers in the academic literature.

On a side note, I've an idea that the development of art can be equated to the development of us. By that, I mean young children make hand-prints in paint. As they grow and become more sophisticated thinkers, their art is likewise more elaborate and able to express deeper meanings. In adulthood, we can express abstracts as well as impressionistic concepts. We start with stick figures and can end up painting the Sistine Chapel.

In that context, early humans may have had a consciousness that was similar to modern children.

a reply to: SLAYER69

On skins and wood I would suspect or on rocks outside the cave, they probably painted all over and on everything but only those protected by the cave survived.