Have you ever heard about prehistoric cave paintings? Prehistoric cave painting is a type of cave decorated with prehistoric human paint, which commonly engraves some animals or unique symbols that influences some of the great rulers of the ancient kingdom in Indonesia.
A prehistoric cave painting in Indonesia shows that the existence of human life is already there more than 10,000 years ago which is not only comes from popular Indonesian folktales.
The archaeologist found some proof about those prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia, which were sentenced as the oldest cave paintings ever.
The existence of those prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia shows that human art in Indonesia started and developed well ever since then. Such as another country has some prehistoric cave paintings, and it’s engraved remark that presents a beautiful artwork.
Are you wondering where to find those prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia? Here we have some of them on the list below. Let’s check them out!
1. Leang Cave, South Sulawesi
South Sulawesi has the beautiful largest cave in Indonesia in Bantimurung National Park, which is located in Leang Cave of the Maros regency. It contains natural rain forest and cave karst that covered more than 43,000 hectares of the land.
South Sulawesi has one of the most beautiful prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia located in Bantimurung National Park of the cave karst. The archaeologist said that the paintings age more than 45,000 years which remarks as the oldest prehistoric cave paintings in Asia.
The prehistoric cave painting found in South Sulawesi represents the social interaction of three warty pigs. It engraves beautifully with a red color, a small body, and a short-legged pig.
2. Pangkajene Regency, South Sulawesi
Pangkajene regency in South Sulawesi is one of the regencies in Indonesia where you can find some prehistoric paintings in Indonesia. You can find them in some cases, such as Akarasaka, Bulu Ballang, Bulu Riba, and many more.
Most prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia that find in the Pangkajene regency represent so many variant colors and modern techniques of paintings. The place becomes one of the most beautiful places in Eastern Indonesia that is worth visiting.
3. Tamrin Cave, Kalimantan
Kalimantan has a unique cave that calls as a Tamrin cave which has shown so many proofs of the prehistoric cave painting in Indonesia. It is located near the Marang River of the Meratus mount in the Tabalong Regency classified as one of the prehistoric sites in Indonesia.
Tamrin cave has one of the most beautiful prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia. It draws perfectly the dancers that are covered with a mask through their heads. Some of those dances are lately known as the traditional dance in Papua and some of the Melanesian tribes.
4. Ham Cave, Kalimantan
Another beautiful gem of the Kalimantan, which brings the oldest prehistoric cave painting in Indonesia shown in the Ham cave. In this cave, you can find a beautiful hand-painted of the dancer, hands, tapir, deer, and some the trees.
It is recorded that at the Ham cave, there are found more than 275 pictures of prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia. One of the most popular paintings is a picture hand-printed.
Ham Cave is located around Meratus mount of the Tabalong regency. The location is well-known as the research center for an archaeologist to find the prehistoric life of the humans Mesolithic and Neolithic.
5. Muna Island, South East of Sulawesi
Muna Island is one of the most popular islands in Indonesia that located in South East of Sulawesi. It has so many caves that have so many prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia. You can find some of them at Mentanduro, Kolumbo, Toko, and Wa Bose.
On Muna Island, you can find different types of prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia. Most of them are not painted with handprints but use the red or brown clay material paint.
That makes most of the prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia that you find on Muna Island is so unique. It represents the modern technique of the painting even if it draws from prehistoric humans.
6. Seram Island, Maluku
Seram Island is one of the most popular islands in Indonesia that contains so many natural caves. That makes the island becomes the main living of prehistoric humans in the per-character era.
On Seram Island, you can find some of the beautiful prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia. Most of them represent animal pictures such as a horse, donkey, and many more.
Similar to the prehistoric cave paintings on Muna Island, some of them that you find on Seram Island also come in a modern way using some red clays for their material painting on the wall’s cave.
7. Speelman Bay, Papua
Speelman bay in Papua is one of the places where you can find some of the prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia. Some of them come in a hand and footprint with a red color, which makes them different from any other prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia.
Most prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia that you can find in Speelman bay of Papua represent the human figure, lizard, fish, and ship. Most Papuans believe that the pictures were drawn by their ancestor thousand years ago.
8. Kokas District, Papua
Kokas District in Papua is one of the places where you can find some of the prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia. Most of the Kokas district is covered by a cave which makes you can easily find some of the prehistoric cave paintings.
You can explore the Kokas district to find some prehistoric cave paintings such as in Andamata, Fior, Forir, Darembang, and Goras. Most of the prehistoric cave paintings around those areas are sacred places for local people there.
So, there are some places where you can find some prehistoric cave paintings in Indonesia. Have you ever visited one of those places? Which one that becomes your favorite so far?
