Potential World Cultural Heritage Site?
Parietal art is found in dozens of caves in the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat karst landscape, East Kalimantan. Researchers believe the cave paintings, dominated by images of human hands and various animals, constitute the world's oldest prehistoric traces of human civilization. The paintings are estimated to be 40,000 years old, older than those found in France. Lurking hazards, though, are threatening the sustainability of the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat cultural preserve now being proposed to join the ranks of the World Cultural Heritage sites.
June 27, 2017
East Kalimantan's Ancient Handprints
Prehistoric cave paintings were discovered in Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat, East Kalimantan. The cultural preserve might become a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.
The heat was biting when Tempo arrived at the mouth of Gua (Cave) Tewet at the foot of Mount Gergaji, East Kalimantan, mid-April. Ten steps into the cave, on a 4.8-meter tall wall, we spotted a blackish-red drawing of a human palm about the size of th
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