Maluku Archaeologists Find 150 Prehistoric Rock Pictures On Kisar Island, Sun And Boat Motives

The image of a fish motif on top of an ancient handprint motif found by a team of archaeologists from the Maluku Archaeological Center on Kisar Island in 2019. (Maluku Archeology Center)

MALUKU - A team of archaeologists from the Maluku Archaeological Center found 150 images of prehistoric rock on Kisar Island, Southwest Maluku Regency, Maluku Province. This finding was made when the team conducted a survey looking for traces of ancient human migration in the southern part of the Maluku Islands, last August 2021.

"A quantitative analysis of the number has not been carried out, but from yesterday's survey the number is very large, around 100 to 150 ancient rock images that have never been recorded before," said archaeologist Lucas Wattimena from the Maluku Archaeological Center in Ambon, Antara, Thursday, September 23.

He said 150 ancient rock art was found scattered on the walls and ceilings of 13 cave sites in the west of North Kisar District, not far from Kisar John Becker Airport.

The picture motifs are quite diverse in figurative and non-figurative forms, such as pictures of the sun, boats, anthropomorphic types in the form of lines, handprints and circle drawings.

There are image objects that are associated with one another, in groups and some are located in a single form.

The discovery, Lucas said, increased the number of prehistoric rock art ever found on Kisar Island to nearly 3,000 images since a joint study by the Australia National University (ANU), the National Archaeological Research Center (Puslit Arkenas) and the Maluku Archaeological Center in late 2014.

In 2015 there was further research from the Maluku Archaeological Center. "If you add this latest, there are almost 3,000 rock images that have been found in 80 cave sites," he said.

Archaeological rock art on Kisar Island is very interesting to study because of the number and diversity of image motifs, as well as the distribution of image objects. For example, an image of a hand stamp.

Based on the shape, the handprint motifs found in the area are divided into several, namely the palm of the hand, the palm of the hand to the wrist, and the palm of the hand to the arm.

Recently in the same study, also found an image of the left hand stamp without the index finger. The object of such an image has never been found before in the Maluku Islands.

"For handprint images, the shapes are quite diverse, there are left and right hands, there are small and large sizes, while the general colors are red and orange," said Lucas Wattimena.