Art of the Upper Paleolithic
This latter estimate is due to a controversial 2018 study based on uranium-thorium dating, which would imply Neanderthal authorship and qualify as art of the Middle Paleolithic.
[5][6] The discovery of cave art of comparable age to the oldest European samples in Indonesia has established that similar artistic traditions existed both in eastern and in western Eurasia 40,000 years ago.
This has been taken to suggest an artistic tradition dating to more than 50,000 years ago, spread along the southern coast of Eurasia in the original coastal migration movement.
[3] In 2018, the discovery of a figurative painting of an unknown animal was announced; it was over 40,000 years old, and was found in a cave on the Indonesian island of Borneo.
[7][8] In July 2021, scientists reported the discovery of a bone carving, one of the world's oldest works of art, made by Neanderthals about 51,000 years ago.
[9][10] On July 3, 2024, the journal Nature published research findings indicating that the cave paintings, which depict anthropomorphic figures interacting with a pig and measure 36 by 15 inches, in Leang Karampuang are approximately 51,200 years old.
[11] Art of the European Upper Paleolithic includes rock and cave painting, jewelry,[12][13] drawing, carving, engraving and sculpture in clay, bone, antler,[14] stone[15] and ivory, such as the Venus figurines, and musical instruments such as flutes.
The animals depicted are prey sought by the Paleolithic hunters, such as reindeer,[20] horses,[21] bisons,[22] mammoth,[23] the woolly rhinoceros,[24] and birds,[clarification needed][25] as well as apex predators such as lions[26] panthers or leopards,[27] hyenas and bears.
There is evidence for some craft specialization, and the transport over considerable distances of materials such as stone and, above all marine shells, much used for jewellery and probably decorating clothes.
Potsherds in a style reminiscent of early Japanese work have been found at Kosan-ri on Jeju island, which, due to lower sea levels at the time, would have been accessible from Japan.
[32] In November 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo.
The rock shelter features prehistoric paintings of fish, including the barramundi, wallabies, crocodiles, people and spiritual figures.
Faceted and use-striated hematite crayons have been recovered from nearby locations (Malakunanja II and Nauwalabila 1) in strata dated from 45,000 to 60,000 years old which suggests that the Gabarnmung shelter may have been decorated from its inception.
[37] Upper Paleolithic sites of the Near East, such as the Hayonim Cave, a cave located in a limestone bluff about 250 meters above modern sea level, in the Upper Galilee, Israel, have wall carvings depicting symbolic shapes and animals, such as a running horse dated to the Levantine Aurignacian circa 28000 BP, and visible in the Israel Museum.
