The discoveries in Sulawesi could imply that representational art began in Asia, but more likely, Brumm says, itвЂ™s just part of a trail of representational art through human history. And then, in 2017, BrummвЂ™s team found the pigs and dated them to 45,500 years ago by using a calcite deposit, making that work, published in 2021, so far, вЂњthe oldest representational painting in the world,вЂќ Brumm says. The subsequent discovery of a hunting scene in another Indonesian cave in 2019 pushed back the oldest figurative art to 43,900 years ago ( 4). In 2014, his team dated popcorns on a hand stencil to at least 40,000 years ago ( 3). By measuring the ratio of uranium to a product of its decay, thorium, Brumm and colleagues dated the oldest layers of the popcorn deposits. The growths turned out to be precipitated calcite deposits, similar to stalactites, which build up in hundreds of hardened layers over centuries. вЂњThere is no real reason anymore to see figurative art as a key indicator of a broader package of вЂmodernвЂ™ traits.вЂќД«ut in 2011, Brumm and colleagues noticed popcorn-shaped growths formed over the top of some Indonesian paintings in limestone caves, which would have formed sometime after the paintings appeared. вЂњAround the world today we see lots of diversity in the expression of вЂartвЂ™ by modern Homo sapiens,вЂќ he explains. Indications of migration in Europe had created an impression of sudden revolutionary change, which is now known to be more gradual elsewhere. вЂњIвЂ™d say the key point is that the idea of a вЂrevolutionвЂ™ was an artifact of looking only at the archaeological record of Europe,вЂќ he says. So thereвЂ™s no good reason to assume that European figurative artworks are evidence of a cognitive leap that enabled art-making, as opposed to simply heralding the arrival of new groups in Europe that showed up with representational artistic skills. Also, plenty of modern cultures make both figurative and abstract art. вЂњThatвЂ™s a problematic concept,вЂќ Stout says, noting that brain size hasnвЂ™t changed much for Homo sapiens in the last 500,000 years.

But these would turn out to be hasty conclusions.

Whatsapp art text