Cave Paintings Discovered in Lemuria

For For Immediate Release: Cave Paintings Discovered in Lemuria

March 5, 2007

Location: Lemuria, near the Murmuring Woods and the Riversleigh Manor House, approx. GPS co-ordinates to follow. Exact location is being kept secret at present to allow archaeologists to map and document the site completely and to prevent possible damage to the paintings by visitors.

Possible site dates: Preliminary analysis of the paintings points to an age of approximately 15,000 to 20,000 years before the present, during the Paleolithic era at the beginning of the Magdalenian Age.

Description: the paintings are located in a limestone cave, approximately 40-45 meters from the cave opening, in a gallery about 15 meters long. The cave floor slopes deeply from the opening down to the gallery, and sufficient light is needed for viewing the paintings. Initial mapping of the cave gallery also revealed a small opening in the cave floor near the back of the gallery, which appears to lead down a narrow shaft, which has yet to be explored.

The paintings appear to be of manganese oxide, charcoal and iron in powder form. In the section of painting reproduced above, the principal figure is of an aurochs, a type of wild ox now extinct. Between his horns is a depiction of a horse’s head, and at the auroch’s side is a horse’s body. In front of the auroch’s head is a sketch of a stag, with massive, branching horns. Lines of dots appear at the top and to the right of the painted area.

Interpretation: Similarities to the Lascaux Cave paintings in the Dordogne region of France are apparent. However, the paintings in the Lascaux cave appear to depict scenes of hunting, killing and war-like behavior, although there are other, more mythological interpretations. There are no indications of violent activities in the Lemuria paintings. Because of the depth at which these paintings were made and the attendant difficulties of reaching these paintings (both now and at the time of their making), the site archaeologist believes these paintings of animals to be a form of sympathetic magic. The cave is a womb, which the artists impregnated with representations of the animals they wished the earth to then give birth. This assured their supply of animals for food, for ritual and for companions.

Further exploration will be made in the summer of 2007, when the team of archaeologists is assembled and funding is assured. All artifacts recovered will become property of the Riversleigh Mouseion.

Report submitted by site archaeologist and artist: Mari Mann