Weathering of oldest rock paintings due to climate change

  • IASbaba
  • May 19, 2021
  • 0
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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

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