Cave art, art and geometric morphometrics: Shape changes and the babirusa of Sulawesi

Abstract

There is considerable evidence that the babirusa of Sulawesi and its neighbouring islands has long attracted human attention. This is probably in part due to the male babirusa appearing as a bizarre compound of two familiar ungulates (babi = 'pig', rusa = 'deer') in that the male's upper canines resemble deer antlers. In October 2014, Aubert et al. announced in Nature that a cave art depiction in Leang Timpuseng, Maros, interpreted by the authors to depict a female babirusa, was created at least 35,400 years ago and is therefore of comparable antiquity to the oldest recorded Late Pleistocene cave art of Europe. Using geometric morphometrics, we compare the Leang Timpuseng cave art to profile photographs and illustrations depicting the babirusa and the endemic Sulawesi warty pig, including historical illustrations produced by Europeans during the period ~AD 1740-1860. Our analysis indicates that geometric morphometrics can be applied to meaningfully analyse naturalistic cave art. However, because of the relatively small sample size and that the male babirusa dominates both historical and contemporary illustrations, the results are only indicative. These are that the Leang Timpuseng cave art is more likely to be depicting a female, and that this depiction differs markedly from historical and contemporary illustrations in that it shows a morphologically female suid as independently active. With regards to which animal is depicted, the results suggest the Leang Timpuseng cave art is possibly either an illustration of a female hairy/golden babirusa, which has not yet been proven to have a range extending to Sulawesi, or the extinct Babyrousa bolabatuensis, which is part of the existing Sulawesi fossil record and has been noted to be similar in tooth size to the hairy/golden babirusa.

The visual psychology of European Upper Palaeolithic figurative art: using Bubbles to understand outline depictions

“…It is striking that examples of rock art animals from around the world also display a similar trait of depicting animals in profile as we find at Côa; e.g. animal outlines on a cliff face in Yunnan Province, southwest China (Taçon et al 2010); animal depictions in the Dampier archipelago, southern Australia (Watchman 1993;Mulvaney 2013); contoured bovids from Qurta I in Egypt (Huyge et al 2007); and the recently re-emerging outlines of babirusas ('pig-deers') in Sulawesi, Indonesia (Van Heekeren 1952;Aubert et al 2014;Hayes and Van Den Bergh 2018). All these instances suggest that this particular profile view 'grammar' for depicting animals can be seen as a pan-global phenomenon.…”

New Methods for Old Questions: The Use of Elliptic Fourier Analysis for the Formal Study of Palaeolithic Art

“…This methodology has been applied to the analysis of dimorphism in Palaeolithic hands, based on experimentation (Nelson et al, 2017), in the study of late Holocene camelids from the Quebrada de Humahuaca (Charlin & Llosas, 2016) and the recognition of camelid morphological variability in southern Pozuelos (Puna de Jujuy, Argentina). But also in the identification of extinct fauna in Arnhem Land rock art (Cobden et al, 2017) or the comparison of representations between Leang Tumpuseng and Sulawesi rock art (Hayes and van den Bergh, 2018).…”

Do Pleistocene rock paintings depict Sulawesi warty pigs (Sus celebensis) with a domestication character?

“…The dated pig images are, in our opinion, inconsistent with the external morphology of the babirusa, a primitive pig with unique characteristics including, in adult males, ornate maxillary canines that instead of pointing downwards grow in a spiral posteriorly over the snout (Groves, 1969, 1980, 1981; Macdonald & Shaw, 2018) (Figure 2). Previously, the figurative suid painting at Leang Timpuseng (minimum age of 35.4 ka) was interpreted as depicting a female babirusa (Aubert et al ., 2014; see Hayes & van den Bergh, 2018). It is possible, however, that this rock art image portrays a young female S. celebensis or a subadult male of this species.…”

“…S. celebensis is under‐researched compared with Sulawesi's two flagship endemics, anoas and babirusa (Macdonald, 1993). Compared with the babirusa, in particular, the species has attracted little European interest and scientific attention (Hayes & van den Bergh, 2018: 45); for example, it has rarely been kept in zoos (Macdonald, 1993; Mohr, 1960). Consequently, it is difficult to find published illustrations or photographs, and especially film footage, of SWP (Hayes & van den Bergh, 2018).…”

“…Compared with the babirusa, in particular, the species has attracted little European interest and scientific attention (Hayes & van den Bergh, 2018: 45); for example, it has rarely been kept in zoos (Macdonald, 1993; Mohr, 1960). Consequently, it is difficult to find published illustrations or photographs, and especially film footage, of SWP (Hayes & van den Bergh, 2018). In fact, we have discovered that the richest source of recent images of SWP are YouTube berburu (hunting) videos posted by Indonesians who hunt them with high‐powered air rifles.…”