News
Monday 25 April 2005
Painted cave reveals ancestors' secrets
Do you think forest management is a 20th Century phenomenon? If so you may have to think again. Scientists at Nottingham Trent University have discovered evidence that tree planting was probably happening up to 2,000 years ago, and that our ancestors may have dramatically altered their forests’ vast and complex ecosystems as a result.
The discovery came as the team analysed a series of elaborate cave paintings in Sarawak, Borneo, in the rainforests of South East Asia. Tests revealed that the red colouration used in the paintings matched the resin in the native leguminous trees (Pterocarpus indicus Willd), which were probably being planted near to the cave for quick and easy access to fresh paint supplies.
The team, led by Professor Brian Pyatt from the university’s Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Centre, found that the resin would have been useless if the trees had not been beside the caves as it quickly dries up making it impossible to apply. They suggest other trees would have been cleared for the new ones to be planted.
The research also revealed that planting the P. indicus near the cave would have had enormous repercussions on the ecology of the rainforest. The tree, which can grow up to 32m in height, has root nodules containing nitrogen fixing bacteria which would have been responsible for fixing nitrogen in the forest soil. The soil is typically nutrient deficient and so modifying the nitrogen input would have affected other species dramatically, causing some to prosper and others to die out.
Professor Pyatt said: “We believe that early human populations were essentially modifying portions of the forest ecosystem in this area of Sarawak as they planted young trees near to the cave in their bid to obtain fresh ‘paint’. These people were tapping trees of P. indicus to obtain the resin which was freshly applied to the limestone walls of Kain Hitam, known as The Painted Cave.”
He added: “Field sampling and painting trials have showed us that the resin obtained from P. indicus matches that used on the cave’s walls; it fits all the important requirements of colour, availability, texture, and practicality of application to limestone.”
ENDS
Notes for editors: Kain Hitam is situated high within a limestone island and has about 65m of cave walls adorned with paintings of dancing human figures and curved boats with high prows and sterns. The cave floor has scattered death ships with associated bones, beads, porcelain, and stoneware sherds, indicating that boat burials took place in this cave. Wood from the boats places them at a similar age to the cave paintings.
The research has just been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science:
http://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0305440305000233
Professor Pyatt carried out the study with the help of Nottingham Trent University research colleague Bob Wilson and Cambridge University’s Professor Graeme Barker.
Ongoing investigations of cave paintings in Australia and the possibility of ‘technology transfer’ are to be investigated in the immediate future.
For more information please contact:
Dave Rogers, Press Officer, on Tel: 0115 848 2650 or via email: dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk
Or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on Tel: 0115 848 6589 or via email: therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk
