Whenever I'm interviewed by any media, they always ask me this question: What is the oldest piece you have? Sometimes it's a colonial painting, other times it's an artifact from extinct civilizations, and it always varies depending on the inventory we have at the moment. This week, I remembered those questions when we learned about a piece that has just been considered the "oldest antiquity in the world."
Some time ago, in the Karampuang cave in Sulawesi, Indonesia, a rock painting depicting a large boar and three human figures was found. According to scientists' statements, it is estimated that it could have been created about 51,200 years ago. This would make it the oldest work of art in the world. Although the discovery is not recent, the determination of its age, carried out using laser ablation techniques, is.
This discovery was made by the same group of archaeologists who, in 2019, discovered another artistic piece inside a cave that depicted a hunting scene and was attributed an age of 44,000 years.
In the words of Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia, this painting "is the oldest evidence of a narrative."
According to the editorial team at DW, it is speculated that the paintings were probably made by the first group of humans who moved through Southeast Asia before arriving in Australia about 65,000 years ago.
Next time I'm asked about our oldest piece, we will look through our collection to showcase the treasure that holds that place at the moment, while at the same time telling the story of this rock painting that will surely hold the world title for many years.
