印尼史前巖畫可追溯至4萬年前

On October 9, Nature published a paper providing the results of new dating techniques that have been used to determine the age of prehistoric rock art motifs in volcanic caves on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Archaeologists have determined that some of the art was created at least 40,000 years ago, so that human cave art existed in Southeast Asia as long ago as in Europe.

10月9日，《自然》雜誌刊登了一篇文章提供了新的年代判定方法，用於確定印尼蘇拉威蘇島火山洞穴中史前岩石藝術作品的年代。考古學家已經確認有些藝術作品至少創建於4萬年前，因此東南亞洞穴人類藝術作品存在歷史與歐洲一樣久遠。

Archaeologists have long been puzzled about the absence of prehistoric rock art in other places beside Europe, especially since they have already agreed that modern humans were established in South Asia and the Far East by 50,000 years ago. Thanks to new dating techniques, we now know that humans were producing rock art at both ends of the Pleistocene Eurasian world.

考古學家一直糾結於在歐洲之外缺乏史前岩石藝術品，特別是他們已經認可了南亞和中東存在現代人類的歷史能夠追溯到5萬年前的實歸功於新的年代判定技術，現在我們知道了在更新世期間歐亞大陸兩端的人類都曾創作了岩石藝術。

Sulawesi is the world's eleventh largest island and is located in Wallacea, the zone of oceanic islands that lies between Asia and Australia. The Maros and Pangkep regions, where the rock art has been dated, cover about 450 square kilometers of the island's southwest peninsula. The caves containing the motifs were carved into the landscape by ancient volcanic lava flows that cut into the limestone, forming clusters of towers that erupt from the plains.

蘇拉威蘇是世界上第十一大島，座落於亞洲和澳大利亞大陸之間的海域內華萊士羣島。發現岩石藝術品的馬洛斯和龐格普地區位於該島的西南部，佔地450平方公里。由古老火山熔岩衝擊石灰岩形成的洞穴中，存在着雕刻成風景樣式的藝術作品，展現了平原上的成羣的高塔.

The network of foot caves formed around the bases of the towers were occupied by prehistoric humans who migrated east from Africa. As a result of this discovery, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has added these caves to a tentative list of protected world heritage sites. Final selection to the World Heritage List is based on criteria that demonstrate a site's importance for the world's population.

圍繞着高塔的基座形成了人類足以進入的洞穴羣，當時被從非洲遷徙到東方的史前人類所佔據。聯合國教科文組織將這一發現增補爲臨時性世界保護遺址。世界保護遺址最終遴選結果將基於遺址對世界人口影響的重要性進行評判。

Bird Cave in Maros

馬洛斯地區的鳥類洞穴

Archaeologists have previously discovered materials used by humans within many of the cave walls and have discovered a total of 90 rock art sites. Previously, the earliest dated evidence for human occupation at Sulawesi came from radiocarbon dates of excavated deposits in two different caves that showed people were using them for habitation approximately 35,000 years ago. Both sites had previously yielded evidence of pigment use, including hematite (iron oxide) crayons and ochre-smeared stone tools, implements that were likely used in the creation of rock art.

之前考古學家在很多洞穴牆壁上都發現了人工痕跡，並且總共發現了90塊岩石藝術作品。之前，蘇拉威蘇遺址最早的人類居住痕跡來自於從兩處不同的洞穴中挖掘出的沉積物，放射性炭檢測顯示大約在3.5萬前有人類穴居於此。之前兩處遺址中出土的證據顯示有染色的痕跡，包括：使用赤鐵塊以及褐石，這些都可能用於岩石作品的創作。

The Maros-Pangkep rock art was actually first recorded in the 1950s and has been studied extensively by researchers over the subsequent decades. There are two distinct styles of art within the caves, dated to the Pleistocene period, which extends between 2.58 million years ago and 11,700 years ago.

事實上馬洛斯-龐格普岩石藝術最早記錄50年代，隨後幾十年來研究者們一直對此進行了廣泛研究。在洞穴中，存在有兩種明顯的藝術風格，可以追溯到更新世時期，即距今258萬年年至11700年前。

Hands in Pettakere Cave

派塔克洞穴中的手形圖案

The first consists of human hand stencils made by spraying wet pigment around human hands that were pressed against the surfaces. Pleistocene humans likely placed pigment in their mouths in order to create such a spray. The less common style of cave art found at Maros-Pangkep is characterized by larger, naturalistic profile paintings of wild land mammals that were native to the island during the Pleistocene period.

最初的人類手形圖案通過將手掌壓在繪圖面上，圍繞手掌噴灑染料液進行製作。更新世時期的人類可能將染料液含在口中製造噴灑效果。馬洛斯-龐格普地區的洞穴藝術品中較爲少見的風格是繪製較大的野生哺乳動物的自然輪廓畫，這些動物在更新世時期生活在該島上。

Both motifs, primarily red in coloration, have typically been found on high roofs and elevated parts of rock walls that are difficult to access. They are often found close to site entrances, but archaeologists have also discovered specimens within deep, dark chambers. The subjects and placements found here often resemble those of European cave art of roughly similar age.

兩種風格的作品基本上都採用了紅色，通常發現於較難接觸到的洞頂和巖壁的高處，一般都接近洞口。但考古學家在黑暗的洞穴深處也發現了一些樣本。發現的樣本和佈置方式都與同時期歐洲洞穴藝術較爲相似。

Archaeologists used uranium-series dating techniques to analyze coralloids associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros-Pangkep caves. Coralloids are small nodes of calcite that form on the surfaces of limestone caves, including on top of and beneath the rock art found in

考古學家利用鈾系列放射標定技術分析了從馬洛斯-龐格普地區7個洞穴中12處手掌圖案和2處動物圖形的珊瑚點。珊瑚點是在石灰岩洞表面上形成的方解石小斑點，包括在岩石藝術品的頂部和底下發現的珊瑚點。

In cases where coralloid formed on top of paintings, uranium dates provide a minimum age for the underlying rock art. In some cases, however, painters created their art over the tops of coralloids that then continued to grow. Technicians were therefore able to provide both minimum and maximum ages for such motifs.

有些情況下，在圖案的上面形成珊瑚點，鈾判定能夠給出下部母巖上圖案的最低年份。然而，很多情況下，繪製者創作的圖案覆蓋到上面的珊瑚點，此後珊瑚點會繼續生長。因此技術人員能夠得出這些作品的最低和最高年份。

The earliest dated image at Maros-Pangkep is a hand stencil with a minimum age of 39,900 years ago, making it the oldest known hand stencil in the world. A nearby painting of a “pig-deer” was also dated to 35,400 years ago and is now among the oldest known figurative depictions in the world.

馬洛斯-龐格普地區最早的圖案是一幅手形圖，最低年份在39900年前，這也成爲目前世界上最古老的手形圖。該圖案附近的一幅“豬鹿”圖也要追溯於35400年前，屬於世界上已知的最古老的形象畫之一。

This dating of rock art in Sulawesi has implications for our understanding of symbolic traditions in the wider region. Similar art styles have previously been discovered in Borneo and other locations in Southeast Asia, and rock art in northern Australia also features hand stencils and paintings of animals. Many of the excavated deposits associated with these motifs have been dated to as far back as 50,000 years ago, and evidence of ochre processing and hematite crayons have also been found in these areas.

標定蘇拉威蘇地區岩石藝術對於我們理解更廣泛地區的象形傳統具有較高意義。此前，在婆羅洲和東南亞其他地區也發現過相似風格的藝術作品。澳洲北部的岩石藝術也以手形圖和動物繪畫而見長。已發掘的很多與這些藝術品相關的沉積物能夠追溯遠到5萬年前，在這些地區也發現了赤石和褐石作爲染料的痕跡。

These new findings also provide us with new information regarding the origins of Paleolithic rock art, which has previously been dominated by a Eurocentric focus. Archaeologists have generally fallen into two camps regarding the origins of prehistoric cave art. Some argue that rock art originated in Europe and developed over thousands of years, resulting in the more sophisticated representations of animals at Lasceaux and Altamira 20,000 years ago.

這些新發現還爲我們研究更新世岩石藝術提供了新的信息，而之前一直被歐洲的考古發現所主導。對於更新世洞穴藝術的起源問題，基本上考古學家們分化成兩種陣營。有些人認爲岩石藝術發源於歐洲，並且發展了數千年，形成了2萬年前拉斯西奧斯和阿塔米亞洞穴中更加複雜的動物圖案。

Others, including the authors of the Nature article, suggest that cave art developed more broadly, and some even go so far as to suggest that cave painting may have been widely practiced by the first wave of Homo sapiens who left Africa tens of thousands of years earlier.

另外一些人包括《自然》雜誌上文章的作者在內，都認爲洞穴藝術的發展更具廣泛性，有些人甚至進一步認爲或許數萬年前離開非洲的第一波赫姆智人便已經普遍創作過洞穴圖案。

One limitation of examining rock art is the survivability and deterioration of the motifs over time. The Nature article authors explain in their paper that, even in prehistoric times, rock art was already in an advanced state of deterioration. Local custodians have further reported that the loss of the art has accelerated in recent decades. Many pieces of rock art have undoubtedly disappeared over the millennia, leaving only remnants for archaeologists to analyze.

研究岩石藝術的限制之一便是經歷時間洗禮這些作品的可延續性和受到的風化。作者在《自然》雜誌的文章中解釋到，即使在史前時代，岩石藝術品已經遭受較嚴重的風化。當地的保護者進一步報告稱近幾十年這些藝術品的損失越來越嚴重。幾千年來，很多岩石藝術樣本無疑已經消失了，只留下殘跡令考古學家分析。

However, we do have evidence of the use of pigments as early as 400,000 years ago, which were also used in the practice of body painting. In 1999, archaeologists discovered more than 300 pieces of pigment in the Twin Rivers Cave in Zambia. The stratigraphic layer in which the pigments were found also contained Middle Stone Age artifacts and sediment dating to between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago. The pigments were found in a range of colors including brown, red, yellow, purple, blue, and pink that all derived from locally available minerals.

然而，我們確實掌握了早在40萬年前人類利用染料的證據，也被用於人體彩繪。1999年，考古學家在贊比亞的雙子河流域洞穴中發現300多個染料樣本。發現染料的地層中還包含有中石器時代器物和沉積物，起始於40萬至20萬年間。發現的染料包含有棕色、紅色、黃色、紫色、藍色以及粉色，全部來自於當地的礦物質。

In an interview with National Geographic, Alistair Pike, one of the archaeologists who authored the Nature article, speculated on why prehistoric humans around the world started creating cave art. He explained that in the past one argument "was that when modern humans migrated to Europe, they competed with Neanderthals for caves, which led to a cultural change."

《自然》雜誌上文章的作者之一，派克接受國家地理頻道採訪時，圍繞着世界各地的史前人類開始創作洞穴藝術，思索他們爲何會這樣做。他解釋道過去的一種觀點認爲“這源於現代人類移居到歐洲時，他們需要與當地穴居人競爭洞穴，因此導致了文化的變遷。”

"What's clear now is that the phenomenon happened elsewhere," he continued. "Once modern people left Africa, they might have faced a different environment and social situation [and] different puzzles. They may have had to live in larger groups to survive, which leads to a need for stronger socialization. One way to display rituals and symbols is with cave art."

“目前我們清楚瞭解了其他地區出現的現象，”他繼續說道。“一旦現代人類離開非洲，他們或許要面對一個不同的環境和社會狀態，要處理不同的難題。他們或許不得不爲了生存而組成更大的居住羣體，導致他們需要更高的社會化。辦法之一便是通過洞穴藝術來舉行儀式，展示象徵符號。”

His interview also hints at just how similar prehistoric humans were to us today. "Certainly making hand stencils seems a universal human practice. Children love to make handprints, even today. We see them in cave art in different times and places everywhere," Pike stated. "It could just be that the urge to make cave art is universal."

採訪中他還暗示史前人類與我們今天的做法會如此相似。“製作手形圖案似乎肯定是人類的一種普遍行爲。即使今天，兒童們也喜歡製作手形印記。在不同的時期不同地點的洞穴藝術中我都發現了這一點，”派克說道。“可能就是源於這種衝動使洞穴藝術成爲普遍現象。”

He further states that similarities between cave art in Europe and Asia undoubtedly go much deeper. This "is why we need to find more cave paintings," he explained. In addition, we must obtain the resources and financial ability to perform similar tests on rock art motifs that we already know about. While we know of approximately 90 motifs on Sulawesi, there are, without a doubt, thousands or even tens of thousands around the world, both discovered and undiscovered, waiting to tell us more about our ancestors.

他進一步陳述到歐洲和亞洲洞穴藝術的相似性無疑會進一步加深。這是“爲何我們需要發掘更多洞穴繪畫的原因，”他解釋到。此外，我們必須得到對已知的岩石藝作品開展類似研究的資源和資金。雖然我們研究了蘇拉威蘇的大約90塊藝術作品，但毋庸置疑的是全世界仍存在數千乃至數萬件岩石藝術作品，無論是已發掘出的還是爲被發現的，都在等着我們去探求祖先留下的信息。