Leang Leang dates back to the prehistoric culture of hunting and gathering. The people were from the Toalan culture, which existed from 5000-1000 BC. This was part of the Holocene period which was marked by the development of human culture. These Neolithic assemblages show Man was using tools and the babirusa paintings suggest evidence of pig domestication.
There are two caves of archaeological significance in the Leang Leang Park, the Pettae Cave and the Pettakere Cave. The Pettae cave was first studied in 1950. During the archaeological excavations, several stone artifacts were found, such as flakes, blades, arrow heads, neolithic axes etc., as well as animal bones. In the same year the cave paintings were also found.
The Pettakere Cave was only studied in 1973, by a British archaeologist. Again cultural artifacts were found, as well as a human skeleton. The cave walls have hand paintings, as well as the babirusa. In 1979 archaeologists from South Sulawesi continued the excavations.
These two Maros caves were probably used as shelters by these early people. A kitchen midden was found in one of the caves. Associated with this were shells, animal bones and skins, all leftovers of these prehistoric people's meals. Freshwater shells in particular, seem to have formed an important part of their diet.These Neolithic paintings were the oldest known Indonesia, until French cavers found more ancient rock drawings in Kalimantan in the 1990s. Leang Leang is quite young in archaeological terms, being only some 5000 years old, as other caves in Sulawesi show evidence of human occupation from 31,000 years ago.
The significance of these paintings to that early society is not known. We are not even sure how the artists reached some of the high level passages. It is likely that the more inaccessible caves were used as burial sites, as in the case of the famous Tana Toraja area, some 200km to the north.The wall was covered with hand prints surrounded by a red blood-like colour. It looked like some gristly murder had taken place, the victim having placed his bloodied hands against the wall as some macabre event took place. In reality the hand prints are art. Ancient art.
The real scene is quite peaceful. A cave featuring prehistoric art, surrounded by rice paddies. This cave is part of the Leang Leang prehistory park in the Maros karst in southwest Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Leang Leang caves are noted for their rock paintings, thought to date back 5000 years.The paintings are stencils of human hands, made by placing the hand up against the wall and then blowing a mixture of red ochre and water around them, leaving a negative image on the rock. I can imagine the artists having great fun as they created their handiwork — no pun intended!
Some hands face left, others face right. Apart from hands, the only other paintings are of a pig deer. This is the babirusa, an endemic wild deer-like pig, with long legs and tusks that curve upwards like horns.Gua Pettae, which is basically just a chamber, containing the handprints. To reach Gua Pettakere, one had to climb a steel ladder up 20m of cliff face to a higher entrance. Here there are about half a dozen hand stencils and a babirusa. There were a couple more chambers to the cave and a vertical rift passage. There were good views down over the valley and one could imagine prehistoric man living here in such beautiful surroundings.
Source from www.incitoprima.com, www.kalimanthrope.com
