Pigs, popcorn and the Pleistocene rock art at Sulawesi

University of Liverpool Evolutionary Anthropology Webinar Series: Thursday 15th of April 2021 Professor Adam Brumm, Head of Archaeology at the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, on “Pigs, popcorn and the Pleistocene rock art at Sulawesi“ Abstract: The Indonesian island of Sulawesi is host to a rich body of prehistoric rock art that has been known to science since the 1950s, but has received little attention outside of this region until recently. This rock art is found in hundreds of limestone caves and rockshelters in the limestone tower karst area of Maros-Pangkep in the south of the island. It is characterised by hand stencils and naturalistic paintings of the largest of Sulawesi’s extant endemic land mammals. It had long been assumed that the art was relatively young, most likely reflecting the creative output of the so-called ‘Toalean’ population, a regionally unique group of pre-Neolithic hunter-gatherers known to have inhabited southern Sulawesi between approximately 8000 and 1500 years ago. Recently, however, we have dated various examples of this rock art using Uranium-series analysis of overlying calcite. Our results show that it is older than previously supposed. The earliest motif we have dated thus far is a large figurative painting of the endemic Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis). This anatomically realistic representation of a pig is at least 45,500 years old. At another cave we obtained a minimum age of 43,900 years for a narrative composition (‘scene’) that we interpret to depict Sulawesi warty pigs and dwarf bovids being hunted by small therianthropic (part-human, part-animal) figures. To our knowledge these are now the earliest known dated examples of figurative art found anywhere in the world. Here, I will discuss the Pleistocene rock art of Maros-Pangkep, how we dated it, and some of its wider implications, including the insight it provides into ancient cultural lifeways and the nature of human-animal relations on this Wallacean island. Hosted by Carys Phillips, PhD researcher of the University of Liverpool. For more information about the programme, find us on Twitter at @LivUni_EvoAnth or email us at liverpoolevoanth@. Disclaimer: The information contained in the multimedia content (“Video Content”) posted represents the views and opinions of the original creators of such Video Content and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool. The mere appearance of Video Content on the Site does not constitute an endorsement by the Department or its affiliates of such Video Content. The Video Content has been made available for informational and educational purposes only. The Department does not make any representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness or completeness of the Video Content, nor of the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any sites listed or linked to in any Video Content.