The charcoal piece, discovered at a remote site in Australia, is some of the earliest evidence of human painting.
The Aboriginal artwork was found last June in Arnhem Land in the country's Northern Territory but was dated only recently by experts from New Zealand’s University of Waikato radiocarbon laboratory.
The piece was discovered by Bryce Barker from the University of Southern Queensland.
Mr Barker said: “The discovery shows Australian Aboriginal people were responsible for some of the earliest examples of rock art on the planet.”
The world’s oldest confirmed rock art was found in Spains El Castillo caves, which were dated to 40,800 years ago last week.
Before that, the oldest was thought to be the Chavet caves in France, carbon-dated to 35,000 years old.
Barker said he was confident the Arnhem Land rock art would come to be seen as significant as the French and Spanish sites.
He said: “Now we’ve got this, and we are sure we’ll push the age back (of Australian rock art) in the future.
“It puts Aboriginal people up there as among the most advanced people in human evolution.
"Some of the earliest achievements by modern humans were happening in this country.”
Some scientists have said that Australian rock art went back 45,000 years, but Barker said that date is unproven. He said this new discovery has been “unequivocally dated”.
Source: www.thesun.co.uk
Bare breast painting act shocks minister - Bangkok Post
The culture minister demands a meeting with organisers of 'Thailand's Got Talent' after the popular programme aired a female contestant painting on a canvas with her bare breasts on national television on Sunday.
Sukumol Khunploem (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
Culture Minister Sukumol Khunploem said on Monday that the programme had high ratings and people of all ages watched it.
However, the programme was televised when children were likely to be watching, she said.
"There must be limits on artistic expression. I was shocked when I saw the clip," Ms Sukumol said. "The ministry will meet the organisers of Thailand's Got Talent to get an explanation."
The show was pre-recorded and not a live broadcast and the organisers could edit "inappropriate" content, she added.
Film and family values campaigner Rabiabrat Pongpanich said Thailand's Got Talent focused too much on business and the broadcaster should censor the acts before the live audition.
"Thai society does not accept this. The police will consider whether this is obscene," Ms Rabiabrat said. "This also shows that Thai society is ailing and it's becoming a sex-consuming society."
The clip below, uploaded to YouTube by DuangAesthetic, shows the Thailand's Got Talent contestant removing her shirt and bra, pouring paint on her bare breasts and rubbing her body on the canvas.
One of the three judges, a woman celebrity, said the act was inappropriate to the country's culture and she expressed her disappointment with many of the audience who voiced their support for the 23-year-old contestant. She later walked off the stage.
Two other judges, both men, said the woman passed the audition, saying the act was another type of artistic expression.
The contestant told the judges that if she painted normally there would be nothing special.
In a Thai web board website, some Thai netizens criticised Pornchita "Benz" Na Songkhla, the celebrity judge who rejected the act. They said Benz had also taken part in a similar "artistic expression" in a photo shoot for a magazine in the past.
Pornchita "Benz" Na Songkhla (From Image magazine)
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Source: www.bangkokpost.com
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