“Ancient Cave Art: Is This 44,000-Year-Old Masterpiece Revealing Humanity’s First Tale?”
Furthermore, the part-human part-animal figurines — known in mythology as therianthropes — depicted in the newly discovered cave painting could signify the ability among early humans in Sulawesi to imagine things outside of the natural world.
“We don’t know what it means, but it seems to be about hunting and it seems to maybe have mythological or supernatural connotations,” Brumm said.
But there is still some debate over the age of its therianthropes. Researchers were unable to detect calcite popcorn on the human-like figures and, therefore, could not determine an accurate time stamp. Nevertheless, Aubert has no doubt that the painting was drawn in its entirety around the same time.
Aubert argues both the therianthropes and the animals in the prehistoric painting show similar coloring and the same weathered markings. However, some scientists who were not involved in the study believe there is a chance the therianthropes were added on much later since the earliest depictions of humans alongside animals so far only date back about 10,000 years ago.
Despite the disagreement among scientists, most agree there will be more discoveries of early cave stories in the future — possibly older than this.
Next, take a look at the oldest human fossil scientist uncovered outside of Africa and checkout the 558 million-year-old fossil that turned out to be the world’s oldest known animal.
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