Maros Cave Paintings in Sulawesi
Part of the Sulawesi travel guide — see every topic in All Sulawesi Guides.
In the limestone karst of Maros-Pangkep, an hour north of Makassar, caves hold hand stencils and animal paintings that have been dated by uranium-series methods on overlying mineral crusts to more than forty thousand years. A warty pig painted at Leang Tedongnge was dated to at least 45,500 years, making it one of the oldest known figurative depictions of an animal anywhere, and a hunting scene at Leang Bulu' Sipong 4 has been dated to around 43,900 years. These finds substantially revised the assumption that figurative art began in Europe.
What is there
Hundreds of caves and rock shelters across the Maros-Pangkep karst carry hand stencils — made by blowing pigment around a hand pressed to the rock — along with painted animals, principally the endemic Sulawesi warty pig and dwarf buffalo, and at least one composite scene that has been interpreted as a hunt involving part-human, part-animal figures. The dating comes from uranium-series analysis of the thin mineral coatings that have grown over the paintings, which gives a minimum age for the art beneath.
Why it matters
Until these results, the earliest securely dated figurative art was in European caves, and the standard narrative placed the origin of representational art in Ice Age Europe. The Sulawesi dates are as old or older, which points either to art arising independently in more than one place or to a much earlier common origin carried by people migrating out of Africa. Either way it removes Europe from the centre of the story. Work in the region is ongoing and dates have been revised upward more than once.
Visiting
Leang-Leang Prehistoric Park, near Bantimurung about an hour from Makassar, is the accessible site: two caves with hand stencils and a pig painting, reached by steps up a limestone tower, in a small park among karst pinnacles and rice fields. It is inexpensive and takes an hour. The most famous dated sites, including Leang Tedongnge, are not open to general visitors — they are research sites in difficult terrain, and access is restricted precisely because the art is fragile.
The karst and around it
The Maros-Pangkep karst is one of the largest limestone tower landscapes in the world, and it is under sustained pressure from cement quarrying, which has already removed hills containing archaeological material. Bantimurung, in the same area, is a waterfall and butterfly reserve documented by Alfred Russel Wallace, who collected extensively here. Rammang-Rammang, nearby, is a village among karst towers reached by a small boat up a mangrove river, and is one of the most photogenic places in South Sulawesi.
Maros Cave Paintings at a glance
| Age | Warty pig at Leang Tedongnge dated to at least 45,500 years |
|---|---|
| Also | A hunting scene dated to ~43,900 years |
| Method | Uranium-series dating of overlying mineral crusts |
| Significance | As old as or older than European cave art |
| Visitable site | Leang-Leang Prehistoric Park, ~1 h from Makassar |
| Nearby | Bantimurung butterflies; Rammang-Rammang karst village |