Lubang Jeriji Saléh, Prehistoric cave art site in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Lubang Jeriji Saléh is a limestone cave in the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat karst region of East Kalimantan, Indonesia, that preserves prehistoric paintings on its walls. The site extends through several interconnected chambers where more than three hundred hand stencils and around twenty animal figures are distributed across the rock surfaces.
The oldest paintings in the site were created around forty thousand years ago when humans began depicting animals using red oxide pigment. Hand stencils and later geometric patterns were added over time, documenting a shift in artistic expression across millennia.
The red-orange hand stencils were made by blowing pigment around a hand pressed to the limestone, leaving a negative outline. Luc-Henri Fage's 2003 inventory counted 328 negative hands and 43 representations, mainly anthropomorphs, mammals and zoomorphs, plus a few signs. A later phase added mulberry-coloured stencils, human figures, boats and geometric designs.
Reaching the site involves walking through dense rainforest and climbing steep slopes, so sturdy footwear and plenty of water are necessary. A local guide knows the route and can explain the paintings, making the visit safer and more informative.
The banteng bull is one of a trio of rotund bovines painted in reddish-orange ochre, spanning over 1.5 metres. Uranium-series dating of the limestone crust that formed over the paint placed it at about 40,000 years old. A later therianthrope panel at Leang Bulu' Sipong 4 in Sulawesi was dated to roughly 44,000 years, so the bull is no longer the oldest known figurative art.
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