Painted caves in East Kalimantan

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Since 1994, more than 30 caves have been discovered in East Kalimantan , Borneo , Indonesia , with a total of around 1,500 prehistoric paintings. The paintings, some of which are over 10,000 years old, were discovered by a French-Indonesian research team. The caves are now located in the jungle around the rivers Bungalun , Karangan and Marang .

A frequent motif in the paintings are handprints, which are often arranged in a special way: for example, tree-like or root-like connections between the individual hands can be found in several caves, the significance of which can currently only be speculated. The location of the caves or the paintings in hard-to-reach places in the rock seems to indicate that the paintings or at least the painted places served certain, perhaps religious, rituals . There seem to be some similarities with cave paintings in Australia that at least suggest a reassessment of the early settlement in the Sunda Islands area .

List of some caves with the date of discovery

  • Gua Mardua, 1994
  • Liang Sara, 1995
  • Liang Ara, 1996
  • Gua Masri, 1998
  • Ilas Kenceng, 1998
  • Gua Tewet, 1999
  • Gua Ham, 2001
  • Gua Thamrin, 2001
  • Gua Misna, 2003
  • Gua Tengkorak (uncovered), 2003
  • Liang Jon (exposed), 2003
  • Liang Karim, 2003
  • Gua Batu Aji (uncovered), 2004
  • Gua Keboboh (uncovered), 2004

literature

  • Luc-Henri Fage: The mysterious hands of Borneo. Who created the paintings in the rainforest? In: National Geographic Germany . September 2006, ISSN  1615-0872 , pp. 82-93 (August 2005 in the English edition).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Cross dating (Th / U-14C) of calcite covering prehistoric paintings in Borneo" doi : 10.1016 / S0033-5894 (03) 00064-4
  2. ↑ Map of the region with the most important caves on the project homepage kalimanthrope.com
  3. ↑ Jean-Michel Chazine, "Discovery of new ornated caves in Borneo"

Web links