Oldest Cave Painting Shows Hunters Have Always… Exaggerated
One of the world's most popular stories, Star Wars, will finish 40 years of storytelling when it comes out this week. But stories have been a part of human life on earth, forever. And the world's oldest documented story has just recently been discovered. It's a cave drawing - from 44,000 years ago - on an Indonesian island called Sulawesi. According to arsTechnica.com, the world's oldest story tells the story of an animal hunt.
In a cave known as Liang Bulu'Sipong 4, which is set into the side of a cliff, 65 feet above the floor of the valley, is a mural showing hunters driving wild pigs and anoa (they still exist and look a lot like mini water buffalo) toward a line of other hunters armed with spears.
So, the world's first story is nothing different from guys in Michigan talking about flushing whitetails out to their buddies. But, in this cave painting, the size of the animals is huge, compared to the size of the hunters. Archaeologists think that fact may mean the story depicted is purely a legend.
I say - most hunting stories are part "legend". These archaeologists have clearly never been in a Michigan pole barn in November, to hear the events of a "drive" exaggerated - slightly.