Maros Regency

The regency is divided into fourteen districts ({{langx|id|kecamatan}}), tabulated below with their area and population from the 2010Biro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and the 2020 Census,Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. together with the official mid-2023 population estimates.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 28 February 2024, Kabupaten Maros Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.7309) The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, their postal codes and the number of administrative villages in each district (totaling 80 rural desa and 23 urban kelurahan).

Notes: (a) including the 2 kelurahan of Bontoa and Hasanuddin. (b) including the 3 kelurahan of Baji Pamai, Baju Bodoa and Pallantikang.
(c) all 7 are kelurahan - Adatongeng, Alliritengae, Boribellaya, Pettuadae, Raya, Taroada and Turikale.
(d) comprising the 4 kelurahan (Allepolea, Maccini Baji, Mattiro Deceng and Soreang) and 2 desa. (e) including the kelurahan of Bontoa.
(f) including the 2 kelurahan of Kalabbirang and Leang-Leang. (g) including the kelurahan of Borong.
(h) including the 2 kelurahan of Cempaniga and Mario Pulana. (i) including the kelurahan of Sabila.

Twelve of the fourteen districts tabulated above lie within the official metropolitan area of the city of Makassar; the remaining two districts (Camba and Mallawa), which together form the northeast salient of the regency (with just 6.71% of the regency's population in mid 2023), are not included in the metropolitan area.

In 2000, 54.77% of the population were Bugis, 39.59% were Makassar people and 5.64% belonged to other ethnic groups.

Important examples of rock art exist in the Maros regency. At the Leang Petta Kere cave for example, in the Bantimurung district (kecamatan) about 30 km to the north of Makassar, there are a number of red-and-white hand prints of animals and hands.Dyah Ayu Pitaloka, '[http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/features/exploring-leang-leang-caves-maros/ Exploring the Leang-Leang Caves of Maros'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022050301/http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/features/exploring-leang-leang-caves-maros/ |date=2014-10-22 }}, The Jakarta Globe, 6 July 2014. The images were made by blowing red pigment around hands that were pressed on the surface of the rocks.{{cite web|last1=Boyle|first1=Alan|title=40,000-Year-Old Rock Art in Indonesia Rewrites History Books|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/40-000-year-old-rock-art-indonesia-rewrites-history-books-n221261|website=NBC News|accessdate=8 October 2014}} These handprints are often accompanied by fruit-eating, pig-deer looking animals called babirusas.{{cite web|last1=Marshall|first1=Deborah|title=Rock art discovery paints new human history|url=http://app.griffith.edu.au/news/2014/10/09/rock-art-discovery-paints-new-human-history/|website=Griffith University|accessdate=9 October 2014}} A total of 12 images were found on the walls of seven different caves in the area.{{cite web|last1=Pruitt|first1=Sarah|title=Indonesian Cave Paintings May Be Among World's Oldest Art|url=http://www.history.com/news/indonesian-cave-paintings-may-be-among-worlds-oldest-art|website=History|accessdate=9 October 2014}} The sites have been submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative list for possible inclusion.[https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/288/ Maros Prehistoric Cave - UNESCO World Heritage Centre]. See, specifically, the listing for [https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5467/, Prehistoric Cave Sites in Maros-Pangkep].

The main site of the rock art is in seven caves around 40–60 km north east of Makassar. The oldest is a hand stencil located in Timpuseng cave with an estimated age of over 39,000 years.'[http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/10/modern-humanity-may-have-begun-ri.html Modern humanity may have begun in RI'], The Jakarta Post, 10 October 2014. It is accompanied by a depiction of a female babirusa, from about 35,000 years ago. The panel where the art can be found is located 4 meters above the cave floor and 8 meters from the entrance.{{cite journal|last1=Aubert|first1=M.|last2=Brumm|first2=A.|last3=Ramli|first3=M.|last4=Sutkina|first4=T.|last5=Saptomo|first5=E. W.|last6=Hakim|first6=B.|last7=Morwood|first7=M. J.|last8=van den Berg|first8=G. D.|last9=Kinsley|first9=L.|last10=Dosseto|first10=A.|title=Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia|journal=Nature|date=2014|volume=514|issue=7521|pages=223–227|doi=10.1038/nature13422|pmid=25297435|s2cid=2725838}}

The rock art in the caves was originally discovered in the 1950s by a Dutch archaeologist, H. R. van Heekeren, but at the time, was not regarded as being especially significant.{{cite web|title=Sulawesi Cave Art|url=http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/sulawesi-cave-art.htm|website=Visual Arts Encyclopedia}} More recently, analysis of the pictures by an Australian-Indonesian team suggests that a number of the markings are over 30,000 years old.M. Aubert et al, '[http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v514/n7521/full/nature13422.html Pleisocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia'], Nature, 514, 9 October 2014. Also Paul S.C. Tacon et al, '[http://theconversation.com/40-000-year-old-rock-art-found-in-indonesia-32674 40,000 year old rock art found in Indonesia'], The Conversation, 9 October 2014. They were looking at mineral layers that were covering the images, and tracing the amount of radioactive uranium in them. This technique did not give an exact date, but it narrowed down the time when the images were possibly painted.{{cite web|last1=Vergano|first1=Dan|title=Cave Paintings in Indonesia Redraw Picture of Earliest Art|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141008-cave-art-sulawesi-hand-science/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008183443/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141008-cave-art-sulawesi-hand-science/|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 8, 2014|website=National Geographic|accessdate=8 October 2014}} The work suggests that early settlers in Asia were creating their own artwork at the same time, or even earlier, than artwork of this kind was being created in Europe.

The caves were of interest to the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace visited the East Indies during the period 1854 to 1862 although he appears not to have spotted the artwork.'[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/oct/08/cave-art-indonesia-sulawesi Cave paintings in Indonesia suggest art came out of Africa'], The Guardian, 8 October 2014. Wallace discusses his visit to the region in his well-known book The Malay Archipelago first published in 1869.

Journal Science announced that hand print in Maros Cave by mouth spraying dye is in the sixth position of the 2014’s top ten science breakthroughs and is called as Indonesian Cave Art. The art of drawing in (Maros Cave) rocks has same old with inhabitant of the European land.{{cite web |url=http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2014/12/25/240630914/Sulawesi-Ancient-Cave-Art-Listed-as-Greatest-Science-Breakthrough |title=Sulawesi Ancient Cave Art Listed as Greatest Science Breakthrough |author=Khairul Anam |accessdate=February 25, 2015}}

File:Hutan Kars Rammang-rammang1.jpg

Maros Regency is famous for its karst hills and cliffs which have been referred to as "The Spectacular Karst Towers".{{cite web|url=http://www.mediaindonesia.com/mediatravelista/index.php/read/2012/01/05/3480/2/Wisata-Gua-Salukangkallang-yang-Menantang |title=Wisata Gua Salukangkallang yang Menantang [The challenging Salukangkallang tourist cave] |date=January 5, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120109095337/http://www.mediaindonesia.com/mediatravelista/index.php/read/2012/01/05/3480/2/Wisata-Gua-Salukangkallang-yang-Menantang |archivedate=January 9, 2012 }}

The Karaenta Nature Reserve, best known for the Moor macaque monkeys (Macaca maura) in the park, is located in the Cenrana district (kecamatan) in the regency.Andi Hajramurni, '[http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2005/04/07/committed-ranger-and-macaque-tamer.html Committed ranger and macaque tamer'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026022322/http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2005/04/07/committed-ranger-and-macaque-tamer.html |date=2014-10-26 }}, The Jakarta Post, 7 April 2005. Moor macaques are endemic to Sulawesi and are considered to be endangered because the remaining numbers are believed to be limited.

Caves

The longest known cave in Indonesia is the Salukangkallang cave (27-kilometer in length). The cave is mostly in the Samangki Village Tourist Area (Kawasan Desa Wisata Samangki), but the entrance to the cave is in Labuaja village, nearby to Samangki village.

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Category:Regencies of South Sulawesi

Category:Archaeological sites in Indonesia

Category:World Heritage Sites in Indonesia

Category:Prehistoric Indonesia