caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst

{{Infobox ancient site

| name = Pettakere Cave

| native_name = Leang Pettakere

| alternate_name =

| image = Hands in Pettakere Cave.jpg

| image_size = 240px

| alt = Pettakere Cave

| caption = Hand print paintings

| map_type = Indonesia Sulawesi#Indonesia

| map_alt = Pettakere Cave in Indonesia

| map_caption = location in Indonesia

| map_size = 240 px

| relief = yes

| coordinates = {{coord|5|0|11|S|119|41|40|E|display=inline,title}}

| location = South Sulawesi, Indonesia

| type = Cave paintings

| part_of = Prehistoric place Leang-Leang

| length =

| width =

| area =

| height =

| builder =

| material = limestone karst

| built = {{circa|45,500}} years ago

| abandoned = {{circa|35,400}} years ago

| epochs =

| cultures =

| dependency_of =

| occupants = Paleo-humans

| event =

| excavations = 1973

| archaeologists = Ian Glover

| ownership =

| management =

| public_access =

| website =

| notes =

}}

The caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst are situated in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and contain paintings from the Paleolithic considered to be the earliest figurative art in the world, dated to at least 45,500 years ago.Aubert, M., Brumm, A., Ramli, M. et al. Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia. Nature 514, 223–227 (2014) doi:10.1038/nature13422{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wt1VbkTeFRMC|title=1993 Indonesia, Malaysia & Singapore Handbook|publisher=Prentice Hall|year=1993|isbn=9780138251833|access-date=22 November 2014}}

Description

File:Pig-deer print paintings in Pettakere Cave, Maros.jpg

The caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst are a cave complex, where prehistoric finds were made.Jo Marchant, Justin Mott, '[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/journey-oldest-cave-paintings-world-180957685/ A Journey to the Oldest Cave Paintings in the World'], Smithsonian.com, January 2016. The whole complex is also called "Prehistoric place Leang-Leang"; the name stems from the Makassarese language.{{cite web|last=Price|first=Liz|url=http://www.bt.com.bn/travel/2008/01/20/sulawesi_cave_of_hands|title=Sulawesi cave of hands|work=The Brunei Times|date=20 January 2008|access-date=16 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129040705/http://www.bt.com.bn/travel/2008/01/20/sulawesi_cave_of_hands|archive-date=29 November 2014}} The various caves — named Pettae, Jane, Saripa, Jarie, Karrasa, and so on — consist of limestone. They are located {{convert|12|km}} from the town of Maros and {{convert|30|km}} from the city of Makassar.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZNdwAAAAMAAJ&q=Pettakere+cave|title=Sulawesi: Island crossroads of Indonesia|first=Toby Alice|last=Volkman|year=1990|publisher=Passport Books|access-date=22 November 2014|isbn=9780844299068}} The entrance to the caves is located {{convert|30|m}} above a rice field, accessible by ladder.{{cite news|last=Pitaloka|first=Dyah Ayu|url=http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/features/exploring-leang-leang-caves-maros/|title=Exploring the Leang-Leang Caves of Maros|newspaper=Jakarta Globe|date=6 July 2014|access-date=15 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022050301/http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/features/exploring-leang-leang-caves-maros/|archive-date=22 October 2014|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}{{cite news|last=Domínguez|first=Gabriel|url=http://www.dw.de/indonesian-cave-paintings-rewriting-art-history/g-17984540|title=Indonesian cave paintings – Rewriting art history|publisher=Deutsche Welle|date=9 October 2014|access-date=16 November 2014}}

A hand stencil in the Leang Tempuseng cave was dated to at least 39,900 years old in a 2014 study.M. Aubert et al., "Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia", Nature volume 514, pages 223–227 (9 October 2014) "using uranium-series dating of coralloid speleothems directly associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, we show that rock art traditions on this Indonesian island are at least compatible in age with the oldest European art. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world."

The hand stencil mentioned is labelled Leang Timpuseng 2.3, corrected age {{val|40.70|0.87|0.84|u=kyr}} (2σ) (p.226, Table 1), significantly older than the El Castillo hand stencil (sample O-32), corrected age {{val|37.64|0.34|u=kyr}} according to García-Diez, M. et al., "The chronology of hand stencils in European Palaeolithic rock art: implications of new U-series results from El Castillo Cave (Cantabria, Spain)", Journal of Anthropological Sciences Vol. 93 (2015), pp. 135-152, {{doi|10.4436/JASS.93004}}. The depiction of a babirusa is also located in this cave. It is estimated to be 35,400 years old. The art works were examined with the help of the Uranium-Thorium method of the sintering on the paintings.Aubert et al., 2014: Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia, Nature, 514, 223–227

file:Maros_hunting_scene.png

Inside the entrance of the Pettakare cave, on the roof, are 26 red and white hand prints, not yet dated as of 2014. Primitive stencils of human hands, the white prints were executed by "placing the hand up against the wall and then blowing a mixture of red ochre and water around them, leaving a negative image on the rock". The red hand prints could have been produced by immersing the hand in a solution tinted red from "chewed-up foliage". The hand prints face both left and right. Some are missing a thumb; it was common practice to cut off a finger when an elder died. According to an official with the Makassar Center for Cultural and Heritage Preservation, the palm of the hand was believed to have power to ward off "evil forces and wild animals", thus protecting the people who lived inside the cave. In addition to the hand prints, a roughly half-meter (two-foot) long painting of a red hog deer is in the middle.

Pettakare cave's large room has several small niches, presumed to have been sleeping places for the people who lived there. The cave has a temperature of {{convert|27|C}} during the daytime.

On a rock wall in the cave of Leang Bulu’ Sipong (near Pangkep) representations of several animals and mixed animal-human beings (therianthropes) were found. A dark red pigment was used. In one scene several small humanoid figures (4 to 8 cm long) are connected with ropes or spears to a large anoa (74 by 29 cm). The paintings were examined by uranium series dating of the overlying speleothems. The age of the paintings is said to be at least 43,900 years. According to Aubert, it is the oldest figurative work of art known so far (2019) in the world and also the oldest hunting scene in prehistoric art.Maxime Aubert, Rustan Lebe, Adhi Agus Oktaviana, Muhammad Tang, Basran Burhan, Hamrullah, Andi Jusdi, Abdullah, Budianto Hakim, Jian-xin Zhao, I. Made Geria, Priyatno Hadi Sulistyarto, Ratno Sardi & Adam Brumm: Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art, in: Nature, Vol. 576, S. 442–445, 2019. The wall paintings discovered by Pak Hamrullah in 2017 were dated and described in more detail by the research team around Maxime Aubert in 2019.Ulrich Bahnsen, Urs Willmann: [https://www.zeit.de/2019/52/hoehlenmalerei-sulawesi-archaeologie-religion? Höhlenmalerei: Es werde Kunst], ZeitOnline, 11. Dezember 2019Andrea Naica-Loebell: [https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Aelteste-Jagd-Malerei-der-Menschheitsgeschichte-4615480.html?seite=all Älteste Jagd-Malerei der Menschheitsgeschichte], heise.de, 15. Dezember 2019

In 2021, an image of a roughly life-size Celebes warty pig (Sus celebensis, also called Sulawesi warty pig or Sulawesi pig) in Leang Tedongnge Cave was dated to be at least 45,500 years old, making it currently the oldest known figurative cave painting in the world.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jan/13/worlds-oldest-known-cave-painting-found-in-indonesia|title = World's 'oldest known cave painting' found in Indonesia|website = TheGuardian.com|date = 13 January 2021}}[https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abd4648 Adam Brumm, Adhi Agus Oktaviana, Basran Burhan, Budianto Hakim, Rustan Lebe, Jian-xin Zhao, Priyatno Hadi Sulistyarto, Marlon Ririmasse, Shinatria Adhityatama, Iwan Sumantri, Maxime Aubert: Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi, Science Advances, 13 Jan 2021: Vol. 7, no. 3, eabd4648 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd4648]{{cite news|author=Adam Brumm|display-authors=etal|title=Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi|publisher=Science Advances|year=2021|volume=7|issue=3|doi=10.1126/sciadv.abd4648}}

History

The caves have been known and used by the local people for a long time. Dutch archaeologists began digging at nearby caves during the 1950s, but Pettakare cave was first examined by British archaeologist Ian Glover in 1973.

Scientific examinations conducted in 2011 estimated that the hand stencils and animal painting on the walls were between 35,000 and 40,000 years old.{{cite web|last=Domínguez|first=Gabriel|url=http://www.dw.de/indonesian-cave-paintings-revolutionized-our-idea-of-human-art/a-17984021|title=Indonesian cave paintings 'revolutionized our idea of human art'|date=9 October 2014|publisher=Deutsche Welle|access-date=22 November 2014}}{{cite web|last=Devlin|first=Hannah|url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/dec/11/earliest-known-cave-art-by-modern-humans-found-in-indonesia|title=Earliest known cave art by modern humans found in Indonesia|work=The Guardian|date=11 December 2019|access-date=20 December 2019}} The age of the paintings was estimated through analysis of small radioactive traces of uranium isotopes present in the crust that had accumulated on top of the paintings. The hand paintings are at least as old as cave paintings in Europe, such as those at the Cave of El Castillo (Spain) and Gorham's Cave (Gibraltar).{{cite web|last=Le Roux|first=Mariette|url=http://www.rappler.com/science-nature/society-culture/71464-indonesia-sulawesi-cave-paintings-ancient-art|title=Southeast Asian cave paintings challenge Europe as cradle of art|publisher=Rappler|agency=Agence France-Presse|date=9 October 2014|access-date=22 November 2014}}

In October 2014, the Indonesian government promised to "step up" the protection of ancient cave paintings, and announced plans to place all the caves in Sulawesi on the nation's official "cultural heritage" list, as well as apply for inclusion on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.{{cite web|url=http://www.rappler.com/world/regions/asia-pacific/indonesia/71525-indonesia-pledges-to-protect-ancient-cave-paintings|title=Indonesia pledges to protect ancient cave paintings|publisher=Rappler|agency=Agence France-Presse|date=9 October 2014|access-date=22 November 2014}}

caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst

Description

History

See also

References

Further reading