44,000 year old Indonesian rock art depicts hunting ritual

A cave-wall depiction of a pig and buffalo hunt is the world’s oldest recorded story, claim archæologists who discovered the work on the Indonesian island Sulawesi. The scientists say the scene is more than 44,000 years old.

The 4.5-metre-long panel features reddish-brown forms that seem to depict human-like figures hunting local animal species. Previously, rock art found in European sites dated to around 14,000 to 21,000 years old were considered to be the world’s oldest clearly narrative artworks. The scientists working on the latest find say that the Indonesian art pre-dates these.

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For a more informed interpretation of such mythic symbolism, see the works of Joseph Campbell.