Narrative cave art in Indonesia by 51,200 years ago

Using the LA-U-series method, we also dated another rock art scene in Maros-Pangkep—one that again portrays human-like figures interacting with an animal (Figs. 1 and 3, Extended Data Figs. 1 and 2 and Supplementary Information). This ceiling panel was discovered in 2017 at the limestone cave of Leang Karampuang (Fig. 1). It is in a poor state of preservation owing to extensive exfoliation of the limestone rock surface, a process that has erased much of the art. The presence of abundant overlying coralloid growths (and other types of speleothems) further obscures the imagery (Fig. 3). The visible elements of the scene are dominated by a large (92 × 38 cm) naturalistic red painting of a suid (most probably S. celebensis). This animal figure is represented as a pictorial outline shown in side (profile) view with an infill pattern consisting of painted strokes or lines. It is therefore consistent in style with the visual convention used to represent pigs and other animals in the dated Late Pleistocene rock art of South Sulawesi, including at Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4. Other pig motifs (n = 5) are present at Leang Karampuang, but do not seem to be associated with the dated panel (Extended Data Fig. 2 and Supplementary Information). In the latter, the pig is standing in a static position with its mouth partly open. At least three human-like figures (denoted H1 to H3) were depicted in close association with the pig as part of a single composition (Fig. 3). The former were portrayed using the same red-hued pigment and broadly the same stylistic convention as the pig, although they are smaller in size. At least two are arrayed in dynamic action poses near the head and face of the animal and seem to be engaged in some kind of close interaction with it. The largest human-like figure (H1, 42 × 27 cm) is represented with both arms extended; it has no legs, and it appears to be holding an item of material culture in its left hand, a rod-like object with a protuberance at both ends. The second human-like figure (H2, 28 × 25 cm) is positioned immediately in front of the pig with its head next to the snout. It also seems to have both arms extended and is holding a stick-like object of indeterminate form in its left hand, one end of which may be in contact with the pig’s throat area. The last human-like figure (H3, 35 × 5 cm) is depicted in an upside-down position with its legs facing up and splayed outwards. It also has its arms extended, with one hand reaching towards and seemingly touching the pig’s head. Pigment traces between H1 and H3 suggest that another figure may have originally been part of the scene. At least two hand stencils visible on the panel seem to be contemporary with the scene; another hand stencil, made using a darker pigment, is overlaid by the pig and was therefore produced earlier in time (Fig. 3). The actions taking place among the figures in this scene are difficult to interpret. In contrast to the dated artwork at Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4, this composition involving human-like figures and an animal does not seem to explicitly depict hunting activity, nor are therianthropes obviously represented, although we cannot rule out either.

We collected four coralloid speleothems, one over each of the human-like figures and one over the closely associated pig motif (Fig. 3 and Extended Data Fig. 3). Samples LK1, LK2 and LK4 directly overlay H2, H3 and H1, respectively, while LK3 directly overlays the pig image. The results of LA-U-series dating of LK1 provided a minimum age of 51.2 ka (53.5 ± 2.3 ka), whereas the same method applied to LK2, LK3 and LK4 yielded minimum ages of 18.7 ka (19.2 ± 0.5 ka), 31.9 ka (34.1 ± 2.2 ka) and 44 ka (45.9 ± 1.9 ka), respectively (Fig. 3). Thus, we can demonstrate that this rock art scene was present at Leang Karampuang at least 51.2 ka, when the oldest dated coralloid (LK1) began to form on top of figure H2.