- Some recent studies about cave paintings found in Sulawesi, Indonesia, have confirmed that they are older than the ones found in Europe. Up to this moment, the Upper Paleolithic French-Cantabrian cave paintings were considered to be the oldest, with an antiquity of around 30,000. The oldest painting in Europe is a rhino found in Chauvet Cave, dated to 32,400 years.
The cave paintings in Sulawesi include a babirusa (pig-deer) dated to 35,400 years and another animal, similar to a pig, dated to 35,700 years:
Babirusa painting
But there are still older paintings in Sulawesi, representing stencils of hands, dating to 39,900 years. The oldest stencils of hands in Europe have been found in El Castillo Cave, in Cantabria, and they date to 37,300 years.
Stencils of hands in El Castillo Cave
Here you have a short video from Nature magazine about Sulawesi paintings:
And this is an article from Scientific American magazine:
- A film called El Maestro de Altamira is being shot in Altamira Cave. It's a documentary that will tell the story of the discovery of the paintings and explain the main theories about their meaning. It will be directed by José Luis López Linares and his crowd has been allowed to film inside the cave for six alternative days. The filming is something extraordinary, because Altamira has been closed since 2002 to preserve the cave from pollution. Last year the cave was reopened to the visits, but they are limited to 5 persons per week. Experts are studying the impact of these visits and the resukts of their research will be used to decide to reopen the cave to the public or keep it closed.
Here you have a documentary bout Altamira showed on the program Crónicas on La 2 some weeks ago:
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