Ice-Age Artifacts Discovered in Indonesia
Tuesday, April 4, 2017
SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA—Live Science reports that art and jewelry dated to between 26,000 and 22,000 years ago has been found in Indonesia’s Leang Bulu Bettue. The cave is located on the island of Sulawesi in Wallacea, an archipelago of some 2,000 islands, where the remains of Homo floresiensis were discovered in 2003, and rock art thought to be at least 40,000 years old was found in 2014. The jewelry includes beads made from tusks of babirusas, also known as “pig-deer,” and a pendant made from the finger bone of a marsupial known as a bear cuscus. The cave also yielded stone flakes incised with geometric patterns, pieces of ochre, and a long, pigment-covered, hollow bear-cuscus bone that may have been used as a tool for creating rock art. “The discovery is important because it challenges the long-standing view that hunter-gatherer communities in the Pleistocene tropics of Southeast Asia were less advanced than their counterparts in Upper Paleolithic Europe,” said archaeologist Adam Brumm of Griffith University. To read about early rock art found on Sulawesi, go to “The First Artists.”
Advertisement
Earliest archers in the Americas, sounds of a spirit cave, Tibetan yak herders, joining up with Caesar, and the first Buddhist king of the Khmer Empire
Don’t forget your basket
Advertisement
March/April 2024
January/February 2024
November/December 2023
September/October 2023
July/August 2023
May/June 2023
March/April 2023
January/February 2023
November/December 2022
September/October 2022
July/August 2022
May/June 2022
March/April 2022
January/February 2022
November/December 2021
September/October 2021
July/August 2021
May/June 2021
March/April 2021
January/February 2021
November/December 2020
September/October 2020
July/August 2020
May/June 2020
March/April 2020
January/February 2020
November/December 2019
September/October 2019
July/August 2019
May/June 2019
March/April 2019
January/February 2019
November/December 2018
September/October 2018
July/August 2018
May/June 2018
March/April 2018
January/February 2018
November/December 2017
September/October 2017
July/August 2017
May/June 2017
March/April 2017
January/February 2017
November/December 2016
September/October 2016
July/August 2016
May/June 2016
March/April 2016
January/February 2016
November/December 2015
September/October 2015
July/August 2015
May/June 2015
March/April 2015
January/February 2015
November/December 2014
September/October 2014
July/August 2014
May/June 2014
March/April 2014
January/February 2014
November/December 2013
September/October 2013
July/August 2013
May/June 2013
March/April 2013
January/February 2013
November/December 2012
September/October 2012
July/August 2012
May/June 2012
March/April 2012
January/February 2012
November/December 2011
September/October 2011
July/August 2011
May/June 2011
March/April 2011
January/February 2011
Advertisement