UPSC Articles
Weathering of oldest rock paintings due to climate change
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Environment; Climate change
In news
- Scientists have warned that environmental degradation is killing one of the oldest and most precious pieces of the world’s human heritage.
Key takeaways
- Pleistocene-era rock paintings dating back to 45,000-20,000 years ago are weathering at an alarming rate.
- Location: Cave sites in Maros-Pangkep region, Southern Sulawesi, Indonesia
- The artwork includes what is believed to be the world’s oldest hand stencil created by pressing the hand on a cave wall, and spraying wet red-mulberry pigments over it.
- A nearby cave features the world’s oldest depiction of an animal, a warty pig painted on the wall 45,500 years ago.
- The cave art of Sulawesi is much older than the prehistoric cave art of Europe
