Discover mural paintings of 12,000 years ago in a cave where I went searching for a giant rat fossil

Look for the fossil of an extinct giant ratEast TimorAustralian archaeologists and paleontologists who had been visiting the cave of India drew something like a human facePetroglyph(Rock surface sculpture)It seems that it was discovered.

"When I looked up at a colleague sitting on the rock shelf from the bottom of the cave, I saw something like a weathered sculpture in the area illuminated by the torch attached to the helmet.Turning the surroundings with a torch, Human face was engraved on the whole wall. "Federal Institute of Science and Industry, AustraliaDr. Ken Aplin tells the surprise of discovery.

Details are as below.Giant rats lead scientists to ancient face carvings (Media Release)

Dr. Aplin et al., The northeastern part of East TimorLauten CountyTo fallLena Hara Caveso,CoryphomysIt seems that he was looking for a fossil of a large rat, which was said to have been extinct 1000 years ago.


Part of the discovered rock surface sculpture.


All the stylized faces are the face seen from the front, there are eyes, nose and mouth, and it is drawn larger than the full size. Some decorations like backlight encircle the head, and it is thought that it is depicting "God" or "Very important person".


This face with "backlight"University of QueenslandOf uranium isotope byRadiometric dating, It is clear that it was 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.


In Lena Hara cave it is due to pigment which drawn bills, animals, boats and human beings so farCave muralAlthough it is said that many archaeologists have been visited for investigation since the 1960's, this is the first time that sculpture was found. No other facial sculpture has been found elsewhere in East Timor's island.

Also, similar stylized human face sculptures were made in Australia andMelanesiaAlthough it is distributed in various parts of the Pacific Islands,PleistoceneIt is this time that this time is the first time to discover what goes back to.

"The local landlords who cooperated in the survey were very surprised at this discovery and the sculptors were willing to evaluate our work and chose to reveal their faces this day "Dr. Aplin says.