Culture Ark · D-1461 · Design · Browse the gallery · The full 2,000-pick list
Generated interpretation, not documentary evidence. A fictional wild-pig-like animal at a limestone cave evokes animal observation; its exaggerated tusks are not species evidence and the scene is not Leang Tedongnge.
Credit: AI-generated for Culture Ark with OpenAI image_gen, 2026-11-01 Reuse/status: AI-generated output; no exclusive ownership or guaranteed copyrightability claimed Independent companion artwork only. Underlying works, performer and trademark rights remain separate. No exclusive ownership or public-domain claim.
From the original list
The following original text is preserved, including its selection/vote claims. Preservation is not independent verification of every assertion.
Why: One of the oldest known paintings of an animal.
What to preserve: Sulawesi warty pig painting
Year and origin: c. 45,500 BP · Indonesia
Vote: 6/9 (historian 2 · future kid 2 · curator 2)
Learn more: Caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst on Wikipedia
Supplemental context
The pig painting at Leang Tedongnge makes animal representation part of a very deep history of human image-making in Indonesia. The research team's 2021 paper reports uranium-series dating of mineral deposits associated with the painting and gives a minimum age, not a directly observed moment when an artist applied pigment. That distinction is essential for future readers comparing scientific estimates with calendar dates. The work also challenges a habit of treating European examples as the entire history of early representational art. Its makers' names and precise intentions remain unknown, so recognition of an animal should not become an invented story about a particular ceremony. Preserving the research method, cave context and conservation record matters alongside any reproduction of the image.
Creator/community: Unknown prehistoric artists; Indonesian and international research teams Place/era: Leang Tedongnge, Sulawesi; minimum age reported as 45,500 years in 2021
Context and limits
The reported age is a minimum estimate; oldest-known rankings change with discoveries. The card shows a fictional warthog-like animal, not a zoologically accurate Sus celebensis, the painting or the actual cave. No invented ceremony is asserted.
Where to learn more
- https://apiarybee.com/community/reading/biggie-nu-series-008-noahs-ark-set-d-culture-2000
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7806210/
Apiary library | Original Culture Ark article
Public ID and individual routes: pending publisher allocation. Internal source ID: D-1461
Part of the Culture Ark: 2,000 things people should still be able to see in 2,000 years, picked by AI research teams. This page keeps the original list entry for D-1461 word for word and adds context. Browse the gallery. The Culture Ark is an Artificial Mind Hive (AMH) project. AMH is owned by Austin Little.
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