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Leang Timpuseng Cave

World's second oldest hand stencil
Dated 37,900 BC, Sulawesi

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Faded hand stencil partially obscured by calcite coralloids, Leang Timpuseng Cave, Sulawesi
Hand stencil from Leang Timpuseng cave, U/Th dated to 37,900 BC. Image source : 'Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi'. Nature 514, 223–227 (2014). Image Copyright: Aubert, M.

Second Oldest Hand Stencil

Leang Timpuseng is one of many paleolithic caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst region on the Island of Sulawesi. In 2014, it was made famous by the first of several studies on Sulawesi cave paintings, conducted by researchers led by French archaeologist Maxime Aubert. According to the study, the cave contains some of the world's oldest known rock art, likely made by modern humans migrating out of Africa in the direction of Australia.

The cave's artistic highlights include:

These two paintings are among more than a dozen other dated images discovered on Sulawesi, that now rival the oldest art in France and Spain, previously considered to be the oldest on earth.

In the process, they have destroyed the conventional idea that figurative art began in Europe.

A more likely explanation is that it emerged in different places at roughly the same time, in accordance with the cognitive evolution of modern Homo sapiens, and possibly other successors of Homo erectus, such as Denisovans.

DNA analysis of saliva taken from Sulawesi's hand stencils may shed more light on this issue.

For details of individual caves in Sulawesi and Borneo, see: Oldest Art in Indonesia.

For a summary of cave art in Borneo, see: East Kalimantan Cave paintings.

Location

Leang Timpuseng cave is located on the southwestern finger of Sulawesi, among the jagged limestone towers and cliffs of Maros-Pengkep.

It is one of five important Stone Age caves clustered in an area of about 5 kms in diameter.

The others include: Leang Tedongnge cave, Leang Barugayya 2, Leang Bulu Bettue, and Leang Burung 2.

Another major site - Leang Bulu' Sipong 4 cave - lies about 20 kms to the north.

The caves in Maros-Pengkep are incredibly diverse. They range from small rock shelters to huge caves, many of which are occupied by venomous spiders, giant cockroaches and large bats.

The caves are damp and often glisten with moisture. In addition to stalactites and stalagmites, the cave walls and ceilings are dotted with bubbles of dried calcite, known as 'cave popcorn'.

Cave Art at Leang Timpuseng

The oldest cave art at Leang Timpuseng is located on the same panel in a narrow semi-circular alcove, no more than 10 metres from the cave entrance, and roughly 4 metres above the cave floor.

The cave painting of the female babirusa (pig deer) shows an animal in profile, with a large, plump body, thin legs, small head, and curly tail.

Its name comes from the male animal, whose tusks resemble deer antlers.

The painting is faded and badly worn. Like almost all the images in the cave it is partially obscured by coralloids - the so-called 'cave popcorn' - consisting of small nodes of calcite or gypsum that form on surfaces in limestone caves.

Astonishingly, the babirusa image is comparable in age with with the earliest known figurative rock art in France's famous Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, where a rhinoceros drawing has been carbon-dated to between 33,300 to 36,827 BC.

To the right of the babirusa, is the hand stencil (negative handprint).

There are lots of other hand stencils at Leang Timpuseng, but this one is special because it dates to 37,900 BC.

At the time, it was the oldest hand stencil in the world. Since then, archaeologists have found an even older one at Maltravieso Cave, Spain, (64,700 BC), pushing Leang Timpuseng into second place.

All the hand stencils in the cave are outlined against a background of red ochre pigment; some have fingers that are misshapen or missing.

The youngest stencil in the cave is dated to around 25,000 BC, which means the handprint tradition endured at Leang Timpuseng for more than twelve thousand years.

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Dating

Conventional wisdom stated that paintings created on relatively exposed rock in tropical environment are likely to survive for no more than 5,000 years.

But the Uranium-thorium dating methods used by the research team proved otherwise.

U-Th dating does not date the paint used in a painting. Instead, it dates the cave popcorn that forms on top of the painting (giving a minimum age), and sometimes also the rock it sits on (giving a maximum age).

It does this by measuring the amount of uranium present in the popcorn/rock.

Uranium decays into thorium at a set rate, so comparing the ratio of these two elements in a sample will reveal its age.

In a nutshell, the higher the proportion of thorium, the older the sample.

U-Th dating has its critics, who claim that much of the natural uranium can be depleted by leaching, thus distorting the results.

But Aubert's method of dating layers in stratigraphic order, seems well calculated.

Aubert states: "In our study, we measured at least three, and up to six, sub-samples per sample. Their ages are all in chronological order, confirming the integrity of our samples. If uranium had leached out, we would have had a reverse age profile - meaning the ages would have got older toward the surface, where they should be younger."

Oldest Art in Indonesia

We now know that figurative imagery was being created in Indonesia, thousands of years before similar art was produced in France and Spain. Here is a short summary:

For the full story, see:
World's Oldest Art.

Importance of Leang Timpuseng's Art

Aubert's studies of the caves on Sulawesi and Borneo have totally undermined current thinking on the origins of cave painting - in particular, the eurocentric model.

It's now clear that Stone Age culture was especially advanced in SE Asia well before Europe started to dazzle.

But this is unlikely to be the final word on the subject. Indeed, it may only be the beginning.

Further research along the main stopping points of the route taken by Homo sapiens migrants, leaving Africa for Indonesia, Australia, the Philippines, and East Asia, may yield a whole lot more rock art, from the Middle Paleolithic as well as the Upper Paleolithic era.

References

(1) M. Aubert et al. 2014. 'Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia.' Nature 514, 223–227. (October 2014)
(2) M. Aubert et al. 2019: 'Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art.' Nature, 576, 442–445 (2019)
(3) A. Brumm et al. 2021: 'Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi.' Sci. Adv., 2021, 7 : eabd4648 (January 2021)

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