Wildfires in South Sulawesi have burned more than 270 hectares of a national park and reached within 800 meters of a cave with art dated to at least 51,200 years ago, Reuters reported.
Firefighter Muhammad Ikfar told Reuters that fires approached the Maros-Pangkep cave earlier in October and burned in the area for more than a week. The park’s burned area was recorded between Sept. 30 and Oct. 18. Crews were still fighting fires elsewhere in the park on Oct. 22 and 23, as dry conditions persisted without rain, Ikfar said.
Researchers from Australia’s Griffith University dated an image in the Maros-Pangkep cave, depicting humanlike figures with a pig, to at least 51,200 years old. A hand stencil in a separate cave on Muna Island is at least 67,800 years old, Reuters reported.
Basran Burhan, an archaeologist at Griffith University, said temperature changes around the painted surfaces could speed their deterioration even if flames did not reach them. He also said smoke deposits could obscure the images and make them harder for researchers to examine.
Reuters said Indonesia has not faced forest and land fires this severe since 2015. A severe El Nino is driving higher temperatures and lower rainfall, according to the report. Burhan urged rapid, focused measures to protect the Maros-Pangkep art. Firefighters were continuing work on other fires in the park as of Oct. 22 and 23, Ikfar said.
