March/April 2021 Issue

INDONESIA: The well-preserved painting of a pig from the Leang Tedongne cave on Sulawesi may be the oldest known animal image ever recorded. Dating back 45,500 years, the nearly life-size depiction of a small native warty pig was rendered using red ochre. As many as 300 caves in the region have been found to contain paintings, making it one of the largest concentrations of early human wall art.

SOUTH KOREA: A richly adorned 5th-century A.D. burial of a young woman was located at the site of Jjoksaem, near Gyeongju. Judging from her grave goods, the woman was probably a member of the royal family of the Silla Kingdom. She was interred with a gilt-bronze crown, gold pendants, and dozens of gold and silver beads, bracelets, and rings. She was also buried with hundreds of small black and white pebbles used in the game of baduk, which is still played today and is more widely known as Go.

CHINA: A stone vessel found in a funerary complex in the city of Luoyang has finally provided clues as to who was buried there. After working at the site for 3 years, archaeologists were still unsure when and for whom the tomb had been constructed. The newly uncovered vessel is inscribed with a date confirming that the mausoleum was built for the emperor Liu Zhi, who ruled between A.D. 146 and 168. This was a tumultuous time in Chinese history, and Zhi gained a notorious reputation for violence and bloodshed.