297
by quite easily following the forensic evidence: Portraiture of humans occurs only
tens of thousands of years after the animal world had entered the mind.
The earliest known animal depiction thus far comes from Eastern Kalimantan,
Borneo—among the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat Karst formations in the Lubang
Jeriji Saléh cave area, between 53,000 and 40,000 years ago, and upon which
sketches, and then a painting of a banteng wild buffalo species, were carefully
imprinted. They were discovered in 2018.
9
The buffalo painting is remarkable for
one particularly acute reason, aside from its antiquity. Researchers have examined
the humans and half-humans in this work of art and it is quite clear that the global
harmonium, humans and other species, had changed. While this banteng and its surrounding stick figures may rightly be described as one of our most ancient stories,
it is also apparent that there is a hunt in action. The ego had, in fact, come into the
cave to report upon its gruesome sense of perverted heroism (Fig. 32.2).
Many millennia later, other evidence arises, suggesting that even well into the
Mesolithic some cultures still survived without an apparent need to kill animals.
Their rock art shows no such drama, only cosmic and community connections without any evidence of a weapon. This is most potently clear among rock paintings in
the Burgos complex in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, where many (thus far discovered) dozens of rock walls yield some glimpse into the lives of two or three peoples
about which virtually nothing else is known. Peoples who survived for centuries in
the period of approximately 4500 BC.
10
They had canoes, ladders (perhaps portals
to other worlds), and seemed to relish other creatures—parrots, vipers, and various
ungulates. Twenty-two thousand years earlier, at the Chiquihuite cave in the Astillero
Mountains, at a near alpine altitude, their predecessors had fashioned “stone points
or possible tools used for cutting, chopping, scraping, or as weapons.”
11
At some
point between Mexico and Borneo, 35,000–49,000 years ago, a tempestuous transition was taking place between human cultures. The Others were being subdued.
That many of the paintings thus far rediscovered, from numerous parts of the
world, were possibly executed by Neanderthals
12
makes it clear that the aesthetic
9 Aubert, M.; et al. (November 7, 2018). “Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo”. Nature. 564 (7735):
254–257. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0679-9. PMID 30405242. See also “Is this cave
painting humanity’s oldest story?” by Ewen Callaway, Nature 11 December 2019, https://www.
nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03826-4, Accessed March 23, 2020. See also “World’s oldest
hunting scene shows half-human, half-animal figures – and a sophisticated imagination,” by
Michael Price, SciencMag.org, https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/world-s-oldest-hunting-scene-shows-half-human-half-animal-figures-and-sophisticated, Accessed March 23, 2020.
10 See The Hypothetical Species: Variables of Human Evolution, by M. C. Tobias and J. G.
Morrison, Springer Nature, New York, 2019, pp. 71–72.
11 See “Evidence of human occupation in Mexico around the Last Glacial Maximum,” by Ciprian
F. Ardelean et al., Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2509-0, 22 July 2020, as discussed
in, “Discovery in Mexican Cave May Drastically Change the Known Timeline of Humans’ Arrival
nianmag.com/science-nature/when-did-humans-reach-america-mexican-mountain-cave-artifactsraise-new-questions-180975385/, Accessed July 23, 2020.
12 “Ancient cave paintings turn out to be by Neanderthals, not modern humans,” by Rachel Becker,
32.3 Life Before Conquest
by quite easily following the forensic evidence: Portraiture of humans occurs only
tens of thousands of years after the animal world had entered the mind.
The earliest known animal depiction thus far comes from Eastern Kalimantan,
Borneo—among the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat Karst formations in the Lubang
Jeriji Saléh cave area, between 53,000 and 40,000 years ago, and upon which
sketches, and then a painting of a banteng wild buffalo species, were carefully
imprinted. They were discovered in 2018.
9
The buffalo painting is remarkable for
one particularly acute reason, aside from its antiquity. Researchers have examined
the humans and half-humans in this work of art and it is quite clear that the global
harmonium, humans and other species, had changed. While this banteng and its surrounding stick figures may rightly be described as one of our most ancient stories,
it is also apparent that there is a hunt in action. The ego had, in fact, come into the
cave to report upon its gruesome sense of perverted heroism (Fig. 32.2).
Many millennia later, other evidence arises, suggesting that even well into the
Mesolithic some cultures still survived without an apparent need to kill animals.
Their rock art shows no such drama, only cosmic and community connections without any evidence of a weapon. This is most potently clear among rock paintings in
the Burgos complex in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, where many (thus far discovered) dozens of rock walls yield some glimpse into the lives of two or three peoples
about which virtually nothing else is known. Peoples who survived for centuries in
the period of approximately 4500 BC.
10
They had canoes, ladders (perhaps portals
to other worlds), and seemed to relish other creatures—parrots, vipers, and various
ungulates. Twenty-two thousand years earlier, at the Chiquihuite cave in the Astillero
Mountains, at a near alpine altitude, their predecessors had fashioned “stone points
or possible tools used for cutting, chopping, scraping, or as weapons.”
11
At some
point between Mexico and Borneo, 35,000–49,000 years ago, a tempestuous transition was taking place between human cultures. The Others were being subdued.
That many of the paintings thus far rediscovered, from numerous parts of the
world, were possibly executed by Neanderthals
12
makes it clear that the aesthetic
9 Aubert, M.; et al. (November 7, 2018). “Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo”. Nature. 564 (7735):
254–257. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0679-9. PMID 30405242. See also “Is this cave
painting humanity’s oldest story?” by Ewen Callaway, Nature 11 December 2019, https://www.
nature.com/articles/d41586-019-03826-4, Accessed March 23, 2020. See also “World’s oldest
hunting scene shows half-human, half-animal figures – and a sophisticated imagination,” by
Michael Price, SciencMag.org, https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/world-s-oldest-hunting-scene-shows-half-human-half-animal-figures-and-sophisticated, Accessed March 23, 2020.
10 See The Hypothetical Species: Variables of Human Evolution, by M. C. Tobias and J. G.
Morrison, Springer Nature, New York, 2019, pp. 71–72.
11 See “Evidence of human occupation in Mexico around the Last Glacial Maximum,” by Ciprian
F. Ardelean et al., Nature, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2509-0, 22 July 2020, as discussed
in, “Discovery in Mexican Cave May Drastically Change the Known Timeline of Humans’ Arrival
nianmag.com/science-nature/when-did-humans-reach-america-mexican-mountain-cave-artifactsraise-new-questions-180975385/, Accessed July 23, 2020.
12 “Ancient cave paintings turn out to be by Neanderthals, not modern humans,” by Rachel Becker,
32.3 Life Before Conquest