'Portable' Stone Age artworks found for the first time in South-East Asia

Ray figure engraved into a rock

Supplied: Michelle Langley

A motif engraved upon a small rectangular stone found in a cave in Sulawesi could be a sun, flower or an eye.

Faint marks on another little rock tablet depict a buffalo native to the Indonesian island.
Small enough to fit in a bag, these Stone Age artworks are the first of their type to be found in South-East Asia, according to a study published in Nature Human Behaviour.
"These are the first [figurative] images found on anything portable — that isn't rock art," said lead author Michelle Langley of Griffith University.

The development of realistic images in artwork is thought to be a hallmark of the cognitive and language skills that gave modern humans the edge over more ancient species.
"We put such importance on the earliest art forms for understanding when we became modern people and when our minds became as they are now," Dr Langley explained.
Painted or carved bone, stones, horns and shells depicting animals and people have been found in large quantities throughout Western Europe and the Levant, dating back to around 20,000 years ago.

But strangely, while Indonesia's rich rock galleries are adorned with complex images, including the oldest dated paintings of an animal in the world, no-one had ever found any portable artworks.
"We knew people were here very early ... so that was mysterious."

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2020-03-17/portable-artworks-found-for-first-time-in-southeast-asia/12046794