The global implications of the early surviving rock art of greater Southeast Asia

Date

2014

Authors

Tacon, Paul
Tan, Noel
O'Connor, Susan
Xueping, Ji
Gang, Li
Curnoe, Darren
Hakim, Budianto
Bulbeck, F David
Sumantri, Iwan
Than, Heng

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Antiquity Publications

Abstract

The rock art of Southeast Asia has been less thoroughly studied than that of Europe or Australia, and it has generally been considered to be more recent in origin. New dating evidence from Mainland and Island Southeast Asia, however, demonstrates that the earliest motifs (hand stencils and naturalistic animals) are of late Pleistocene age and as early as those of Europe. The similar form of the earliest painted motifs in Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia suggests that they are the product of a shared underlying behaviour, but the difference in context (rockshelters) indicates that experiences in deep caves cannot have been their inspiration.

Description

Keywords

Keywords: Animal motifs; Hand stencils; Painted caves; Rock art; Rockshelters; Uranium-series dating

Citation

Source

Antiquity

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

License Rights

Restricted until

2037-12-31