First Directly Dated Rock Art in Southeast Asia and the Archaeological Implications

Abstract

This paper integrates the first rock art directly dated with radiocarbon (14C) in Southeast Asia with the archaeological activity in the area and with stylistically similar rock art in the region. Peñablanca is a hotspot of archaeological research that includes the oldest dates for human remains in the Philippines. The caves in Peñablanca with known rock art were revisited and only 37.6% of the original recorded figures were found; the others are likely lost to agents of deterioration. A sample was collected from an anthropomorph and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dated to 3570–3460 cal BP. The date corresponds to archaeological activity in the area and provides a more holistic view of the people inhabiting the Peñablanca caves at that time. A systematic review was used to find similar black anthropomorph motifs in Southeast Asia to identify potential connections across the region and provide a possible chronological association.

Rock art and frontier conflict in Southeast Asia: Insights from direct radiocarbon ages for the large human figures of Gua Sireh, Sarawak

“…The charcoal drawings of Gua Sireh appear to be part of the wider distribution of black drawn motifs found from the Philippines through central Island Southeast Asia across Borneo and Sulawesi to Peninsular Malaysia, thought to be associated with the Austronesian diaspora [ 5 , 7 – 9 , 11 , 38 – 40 ]. Black drawings have been noted in central Island Southeast Asia from as early as 1888, specifically in Liang Lumba located in Mount Mandenlla Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) [ 11 :166].…”

“…Published recordings of similar black anthropomorphs with filled-in triangular torsos in central Island Southeast Asia include Gua Hagop Bilpo in Sabah [ 7 , 48 ], Gua Cincin in Kelantan [ 26 , 41 , 49 – 51 ], as well as at caves and rock shelters in Indonesia containing many hundreds of motifs including more than 30 sites in East Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), among them Tanjung Lokan, Kapusa Hulu and Batn Cap, Kayong [ 7 , 9 , 42 , 46 ], Liang Lumba in Central Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) [ 7 , 11 :166, 48 ], and numerous sites across the Maros-Pangkep and Bone regencies of southern Sulawesi [ 8 , 9 ]. There is considerable diversity in the graphic conventions of the black drawings of the region, particularly the anthropomorphs with more slender and elongated forms noted across central Island Southeast Asia and into Peninsular Malaysia [ 38 , 39 , 51 – 53 ], consistent with the Austronesian drawing style developing and changing over time as observed in the black pigment rock art of the Pacific [ 38 , 43 , 54 , 55 ].…”

“…Only two other chronometric age determinations from black drawn rock art motifs in the broader region have been published, both small anthropomorphs with arms outstretched upwards and angular infilled torsos, with both studies only recently completed [ 8 , 38 ].…”

“…A radiocarbon determination of 3570–3460 cal BP (Wk-51453) has been obtained for a (presumably charcoal) black anthropomorphic motif in Hermoso Tuliao Cave, one of the 12 rock art sites in the Penablanca Cave complex of the Philippines. The surprisingly old age for the motif is all the more remarkable considering the advancing degradation of rock art and notable motif loss within most of the complex, estimated to be as much as 62% of the pictogram assemblage evidenced by comparing rock art documented by a series of researchers from the mid-1970s to today (for details see [ 38 :929, 931]), though Hermosa Tuliao and Segundino Tuliao caves were noted to be in good condition. The Hermoso Tuliao date challenged the notion that all black pigment rock art in Southeast Asia is recent (i.e.…”

“…The Hermoso Tuliao date challenged the notion that all black pigment rock art in Southeast Asia is recent (i.e. only hundreds of years in age) and indicates the anthropomorph was made by the ancestors of one of two current ethnic populations in the Philippines; Austronesian or Agta peoples [ 38 :931].…”