Primitive art in the Archipelago: Meaning and Continuity in the History of Indonesian Fine Art

The discussion about Indonesian art in this paper is deliberately limited to modern art. It seems appropriate that the name Nusantara is more popular with art in Indonesia which is still in the categories of primitive, classical and traditional art. A little bit about primitive art, which is easy to understand, is that works of art which, in terms of technique, materials and symbolic meaning, are still categorized as simple in nature. Usually primitive art is identified during the prehistoric period and relates to the early period of human culture, but if all artifacts are from the mesolithic or middle rock period or neolithic or new rock. Then, with regard to classical art, it could be said that the rise of this type of art occurred after entering the historical period or when life had settled down and there was already a regulated community through the institutions it created. Judging from the word classic etymologically means it has received a Nobel title. Such a non-lexical meaning is conventional, usually classical art is a work of art that has experienced its peak of beauty. So what can be said is that classical art is also a paradigmatic system of values that is widely adhered to by its supporters, so that works of art are usually always produced in palaces and are constantly celebrated, especially in terms of their perfection.

another, exchanging ideas and products that help them adapt to coastal environments.This pattern has also resulted in inland or upland communities on each island becoming increasingly isolated from one another, except through contact with downstream coastal communities who remain in touch with other parts of the archipelago.
Not only does this archipelago consist of islands separated by sea, but also Papua New Guinea and the islands of the volcanic arc consist of mountainous areas separated by valleys and lowlands that provide many havens, or areas protected by their isolation, for a large number of plant and animal species.By this explanation, there are a large number of cultures partly because of their shared physical isolation and also because of the great variation in flora and fauna.While such generalizations are attractive, they are difficult to test and counterexamples abound.Perhaps one-third of Indonesian is spoken in Irian Jaya, but its geographic and environmental diversity is not much greater than in the more linguistically homogeneous parts of the archipelago.
All of this serves as an illustration that the art of the Archipelago in this substance is deliberately limited not to modern art.It is appropriate that the name Nusantara is indeed more prevalent than art in Indonesia, which is still in the category of primitive, classical and traditional art.A little bit about primitive art, which is easy to understand, is that works of art which, in terms of technique, materials and symbolic meaning, are still categorized as simple in nature.Usually primitive art is identified during the prehistoric period and relates to the early period of human culture, but if all artifacts are from the mesolithic or middle rock period or neolithic or new rock.
Then, with regard to classical art, it could be said that the rise of this type of art occurred after entering the historical period or when life had settled down and there was already a regulated community through the institutions it created.Judging from the word classic, etymologically, it comes from the word clasiquerre which means it has received a Nobel title.Such a non-lexical meaning is conventional, usually classical art is a work of art that has experienced its peak of beauty.So what can be said is that classical art is also a paradigmatic system of values that is widely adhered to by its supporters, so that works of art are usually always produced in palaces and are constantly celebrated, especially in terms of their perfection.
Exploiting with the title of traditional art, judging from the term, is definitely related to works of art whose existence is always preserved or inherited continuously in the sense of being regenerated without any change in terms of material, technique or philosophicalsymbolic aesthetic values.However, if changes occur, it is likely that they will not be so big and disrupt the existence of the meaning of traditional values.One of the traditional arts can also apply to primitive or classical art.We can imagine that ethnic art in the archipelago is still continuing the primitive art that continues to be a tradition when the ethnic culture from prehistoric times until now has not been influenced by major outside cultures.On the other hand, classical fine art, which in fact has received culture from outside, especially Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam, but because it must receive recognition from the supporting community, can also become traditional fine art or in other words, it can be called classical art which is deliberately traditional.Starting from this mapping, it would be close to the truth if cultural products are heavily influenced by geographical, biome, social, and ethnic community habits, although with the influence of marine global interactions, mutual understanding can occur and if necessary, acculturation occurs.
With this plural ethnicity in mind, in terms of addressing the substantive aspects of Nusantara art, both in its two-dimensional and tri-dimensional configurations, both movable and unmovable, it seems that natural environmental factors and creative resources also vary.Therefore, in terms of understanding the aesthetic aspects associated with Iswahyudi -833-symbolic meaning, starting from Van Peursen's theory still applies at each detailed cultural level into three stages, namely mythic, ontological, and functional (Pursen, 1985).In this case, the mythical stage is closer to primitive art, then the ontological and functional stages apply to traditional and modern societies.Although this limitation is not so absolute, it can at least lead us not to compare that at every level of ethnic culture there is no high-level judgment of whether or not the archipelago's fine art is beautiful or not.
Apart from the approach to understanding the three levels of culture, it seems that from the aspect of Indonesian art types it can also be categorized into three, namely ideofacts, sociofacts and technofacts.In relation to ideofacts, it can be understood that all works of Indonesian fine art always function as rituals.Then the socio-fact aspect is related to social status or markers of social interaction.Teknofact is related to the fact that Indonesian art forms always originate from discourse, such as aspects of materials, skill capacity and production techniques.Then one of the things in the creation process is considering that the geographic location is an island, in terms of the inspirational aspect of creation, for example in terms of decorative ornaments, it can be divided between geometric and nongeometric.As a replication, it is about the distribution of decorative elements in Indonesian fine arts.

PREHISTORY OF THE ARCHIPELAGO
Mesolithic culture is a movement between paleolithic and neolithic cultures.Mesolithic culture is a late Paleolithic culture that was influenced by early Neolithic culture.This mesolithic culture is also called epi-paleolithic culture (Heine-Geldern, 1945: 130;Heekeren, 1958: 34).This culture is characterized by the use of axes by using stone axes that have been polished on one side, the use of milled stones and also the widespread use of microlith artifacts.The specificity of the Mesolithic period in Indonesia is the development of types of fine art painted on cave walls and coral rocks (Soejono eds., 1977: 85).Cave wall paintings in Indonesia are generally found in eastern Indonesia, namely in Sulawesi, Maluku and Irian Jaya.The shapes depicted are very diverse, both naturalistically drawn, simple lines and abstract shapes.
Painting first appeared when humans began to be overwhelmed by fun and fear of their environment.In the culture of sedentary life during this epi-paleolithic period, it is estimated that humans lived by gathering advanced food.By starting a settled life, it means that they already have plenty of time to do something useful for their life.Something they have is making paintings and scratches on cave walls and rocks as an expression of fun and fear (Howell, 1982: 19).Regarding this sense of fun, it turns out that it started with humans' efforts to imitate the scratch marks made by animal hooves on the walls of the caves and rocks where they lived.This, without realizing it, then produces the desired forms, such as animal models that become his dreams (Oakley, 1972: 32).Then handstencils are also considered to be the first paintings of this era.This painting is done by pressing the palm of the hand on the surface of the cave wall, then making scratches with a stone tool or colored material between the gaps of the fingers to get the marks.From this shadow technique, we then get the impression that if the object is the shadow will move.In fact, not all shadow objects can be recorded on cave walls, but only some are possible considering the area of the image area.For example, if you depict imaginary lines in the form of animals, it means that an aesthetic impulse has been reflected in the opus.
Apart from that, by depicting animals that are usually used as objects of hunting, it is hoped that the animals being hunted will be easy to catch.This assumption can be linked to a type of primitive scientific theory, namely a deep belief in the birth of supernatural powers called symphatetic magic or magical contact (Baal, 1971: 56).To know for sure the Iswahyudi -834-meaning of these paintings is very difficult because we do not know the myths that live to this day.Regardless of whether the prehistoric opus is interesting from an aesthetic point of view, it seems that in terms of meaning, symbolic interpretation can be revealed.Under the shadow of the assumption, it is stated that something that appears is related to meaning.This relationship can be established through communication which is called symbolic interaction (Blumer, 1969: 10).
The art of Indonesia's outer islands reveals several motifs and designs which may be associated with common prehistoric Southeast Asian and Pacific island cultures and others associated with later foreign influences from mainland Asia, the Middle East and Europe.Many writers have tried to discover the prehistoric layers of Indonesian art by identifying Asian, Middle Eastern or European elements in Indonesian art and then making various conjectures about what art traditions existed before these influences.A more reliable method for obtaining various data about the earliest forms of Indonesian art is through archaeological investigations.
The most ancient objects excavated in the Oceania region come from the Pacific island Lapita pottery culture (1500-500 BC) and bronze tools from the Vietnamese Dongson culture (600 BC-AD 600).These findings show that people have been actively traveling and trading throughout the archipelago since the second millennium BC.The designs of prehistoric works of art described in this chapter have inspired generations of indigenous craftsmen and still appear in Indonesian art today.Archaeological and linguistic evidence supports the idea that prehistoric Austronesian protocultures were common in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.Although the descendants of early Austronesian-speaking ancestors now inhabit large areas of the Pacific, including much of Indonesia, they are actually replacing earlier people who were descendants of non-Austronesian speakers.It is found today in the New Guinea region and also on several islands in Indonesia.On the basis of linguistic evidence, Bellwood concludes that early non-Austronesian speakers whose languages were among the prototypes of several present-day Papuan and Austro-Asian languages were displaced by the prehistoric expansion of Austronesian speakers through Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and ultimately into Indonesia.He ascribes the origins of the Austronesian groups moving throughout the Pacific to a group of Proto-Austronesianspeaking migrants from mainland southern China who migrated to Taiwan and developed the language term "early Austronesian" (Bellwood, 1985).
Bellwood further suggests that the Proto-Austronesians settled in Taiwan by around 4000 BC, then their early Austronesian-speaking descendants moved to the Philippines in 3000 BC. and in 2500 BC headed south towards the Indonesian archipelago.Austronesian spread so throughout the archipelago that today almost all ethnic groups speak Austronesian.The only non-Austronesian languages spoken in Indonesia today are the socalled Papuan languages of Irian Jaya, Halmahera and Morotai, Timor, Alor, and Pantarall possibly spoken by descendants of ethnic groups who were not replaced by Austronesian speakers during waves of migration Austronesian language.Including Austronesian language migration along the northern coast of New Guinea and into the Pacific islands around 5,000 years ago.The term "Papuan" has been applied to all non-Austronesian languages in the region, on the grounds that they may have originally been related, although there is currently not enough commonality between these languages, as measured by currently available methods, to account for this.all descended from one protolanguage (Taylor, and Lorraine V. Arragon, 1991: 61).
This linguistic record reveals that the various Austronesian cultures that make up most of Indonesian society developed from one main cultural layer, which in turn has long been in contact with a second cultural layer, namely the Papuan-speaking peoples of eastern Iswahyudi -835-Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.Knowledge of the prehistoric migrations of Indonesians, andof their earliest contact with other groups, is useful for understanding the history of Indonesian art, and this brief summary of the linguistic evidence for the Austronesian substrate is sufficient to show that it is possible to search in the archaeological record for some evidence for the form early Austronesian art as they may have predated indigenous innovations and outside introductions.
Information about human contact and migration, trade, social stratification, and the origins of design styles continues to be sought by scholars in the archaeological record.Pacific archaeological research over the past two decades has greatly increased knowledge of an ornate pottery style called Lapita after an archaeological site in the Melanesian region of New Caledonia.The Lapita pottery culture, known primarily through its finely decorated pottery and associated obsidian finds, is dated to ca. 1500 -500 BC.The reappearance of similar styles of ceramic decoration on the widespread islands of the western Pacific, also associated with traded obsidian flakes, has led archaeologists to posit extensive prehistoric trade and colonization networks.The stamped and incised designs on Lapita pottery are mostly geometric but include spiral shapes and some human faces similar to those found on later Indonesian Dongson style bronze ware.
Although the prehistoric connection between the Lapita and the bronze-using cultures of Southeast Asia, including the Dongson, has not been documented, objects produced by these cultures display similar elemental design motifs that can still be seen in Indonesian art.Materials produced by the Lapita and later Bronze Age cultures provide evidence of long-distance trade, suggesting a prehistoric antecedent to the system of ritual gift exchange still in effect in Indonesia and other areas of Oceania today.Moreover, remains found at the Talepaemalai site along with pottery shards suggest that people lived then just as they do today outside the Indonesian island.They built houses on stilts and, to survive, fished, collected shellfish, and cultivated a variety of trees and plants.Knives and shell scrapers provide circumstantial evidence that they cultivated tubers.
The Lapita people may have been the first speakers of an Austronesian language that expanded from mainland Southeast Asia eastward through the Pacific islands and then into Indonesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia (Bellwood 1985).Alternatively, the Lapita culture may have developed independently in the Pacific, perhaps near the Bismarck archipelago.Neither hypothesis has been conclusively proven.Bellwood records similar designs on stamped pottery from the Yuanshan culture of northern and eastern Taiwan, dating from 2000 BC, and designs found on pottery in the Philippines, Indonesia, and the western Oceania region after 1500 BC. (Bellwood 1985:247).Some scholars now suggest that the documented Lapita pottery antecedents from Polynesia and Melanesia must lie somewhere in eastern Indonesia or the Philippines (Bellwood 1985: 252).Although the new archaeological excavations reveal more information, the archaeological record of Eastern Indonesia remains scanty and insufficient.Further excavations need to be carried out on the islands of Southeast Asia and New Guinea before the four thousand year record of Indonesian design forms is better understood and scholars can determine the origins of the suggestive geometric designs seen in Indonesian artwork that are similar to the Lapita culture and Dongson.
The Dong Son culture was an influential early civilization in Southeast Asia, which flourished from around 600 BC -100 AD in Vietnam's Tonkin region.It is assumed to be a terraced and semiurban culture based on intensive rice production using plows and buffalo traction.Improved food production is thought to have supported population increases in settlements controlled by the upper classes, who commissioned ornate bronze implements, such as drums, for elaborate burials (Bellwood 1985: 275).Known bronze artifacts from Iswahyudi -836-this culture have been found everywhere in Indonesia from Sumatra to Irian Jaya.To date, twenty-six drums and drum fragments have been found in Indonesia (Smith and Watson 1979:514-15).Brought by Southeast Asian migrants or through trade, bronze may have introduced the inhabitants of Indonesia's islands to advanced metalworking technologies and ornamental styles that can be seen in Indonesian art to this day.
Dongson metallurgy was highly advanced for its time, both drum-shaped and axeshaped unusually different from those of contemporary India and China and for the use of lost wax casting.There are two methods of lost wax casting, one for hollow objects and the other for solid objects.To make hollow objects such as Dongson drums, craftsmen shape these objects from clay.The clay figure is then covered with a layer of decorated wax as thick as the desired metal object.A second layer of clay is added on top of the wax to seal the wax mold.Molten metal is poured into the mold.The wax melts, flows out through the holes, and the metal solidifies into a shape.For solid pieces, the shape is first engraved with wax.The wax figure is then encased in a clay mold.The molten metal is then poured into a mold where it hardens displacing the wax and creating a solid metal object.Additional surface ornamentation may be added to the metal after it has hardened.
In 1937, six large drums and drum fragments were discovered on the island of Sangeang east of Sumbawa in the Lesser Sunda region of Indonesia.A Dutch deputy commissioner named S. Kortleven sent it to what is now the National Museum of Indonesia to be added to its prehistoric collection.Three of these drums, each named by the local people, had been placed beside graves and revered by the islanders of Sangeang, who reportedly used them in ceremonies to ask for rain for themselves and to cause fires among their enemies (Heekeren 1958: 24).The largest of the three drums is called "Makalamau", studied in detail by Heine Geldern (Heine Geldern, 1945).
The Makalamau, with a diameter of 122 cm, is the third largest drum of the type known as Heger I. Early this century, a German scholar named Heger classified all known Dongson style drums according to their size and shape (Bernet Kempers 1988: 30-32).The dress and architectural style depicted on the drum, its specific lead content, and the fact that it was cast in one piece-unlike contemporary Javanese and later Pejeng and Balinese style drums in which the drum top and drum body were often cast separately suggest that Makalamau was produced in Southeast Asia and then transported to Indonesia.Bellwood suggests that most or all of the Heger I Dongson style drums found in Peninsular Malaysia and Indonesia were produced in Vietnam before 100 AD and reached the Sunda Islands in Indonesia via trade routes during the first millennium AD (Bellwood, 1985: 281).
Most of Makalamau's geometric designs stand out in positive relief, while most of the allegorical scenes are inscribed negatively.In the center of the tympanum is a twelvepointed star surrounded by twelve concentric bands decorated with geometric or figurative designs.In the original drum maker's cosmology, this star represents the sun.Sun and rain, symbolized by the thunderous sound produced when beating the eardrum, are necessary to produce fertile crops and to sustain life in general (Bernet Kempers 1988).The outermost tympanum is decorated with four frog figures, spaced equidistant from each other.The third band from the tympanum is most informative about the way people lived in Southeast Asia at the time the drums were produced.It contains four segments depicting domestic human scenes occurring in and around a pile-frame house with a gable-shaped roof.Such houses are often depicted on Dongson drums excavated in northern Vietnam, but also resemble traditional houses still built today in areas of Indonesia such as the Sa'dan Toraja area of Sulawesi (Heekeren 1958: 24).
In one of four scenes, someone is climbing the steps into the building, and another person is seen pounding rice in an hourglass-shaped mortar, the kind still used in rural Iswahyudi -837-areas of Southeast Asia and Indonesia's outer islands today.Long is seen climbing in front of the gable, and two chickens, a pig, and a dog are seen under the raised house.Inside the howse are five kneeling figures and one standing figure who appears to be picking up inserts or removing objects from a storage area equipped with other storage compartments.Heine Geldern associates the dress and kneeling posture with the decoration seen on thirdcentury BC Chinese roof tiles and second-century AD Han relief.However, it is also possible that these scenes depict domestic life in Southeast Asia either before or after that date.In scenes in the opposite quadrant of the eardrum, a similar version of domestic life is shown.One person appears to be playing a gong; another kneeling figure may indicate a position of deference to royalty.The drum body is decorated compactly with scenes of boats, wild animals and horsemen (Heine Geldern. 1947).
The upper convex part depicts six crescent-shaped boats with bird's head ornaments on the bow and stern.Each boat carried several human figures that were barely visible among the dense fur patterns.The geometric feather pattern, similar in form to the warrior headdress seen on other Dongson drums, has been considered a stylized version of an earlier form of naturalistic design (Bernet Kempers 1988: 138-39).Under some of the boats are figures of fish and birds.In the same band, there are several human and animal scenes.A person with a sword raised against a large mammal.Also depicted are deer, elephants and tall wading birds.The center of the drum is divided by geometrically decorated bands into eight separate panels.The panels include small human figures dwarfed by banners of geometric motifs.The bottom of the drum includes twenty square sections, one now missing, depicting men beside or riding a horse or elephant.
The designs and scenes depicted on the drum called Makalamau support the hypothesis that this particular bronze item was imported from Vietnam (Heine Geldern. 1947).This trade in Dongson drums, various bronze items, and new knowledge of manufacturing techniques associated with these items may have led to increased development of local Indonesian metalworking centers, as evidenced by clay molds and large numbers of bronze axes.and other vessels of innovative design excavated in areas such as Bali (Heekeren 1958;Bernet Kempers 1988;Bellwood 1985: 282-89).
Cast metal objects with geometric motifs are also associated with Dongson technology and artistic influences.For example, cast iron anklets were worn by high-ranking women on Sumba to emphasize their freedom from hard field work.Even today such anklets are sometimes worn in wedding processions (personal communication, Joel Kuipers 1990).The cast iron composition of this anklet suggests a more recent origin, but the design may be based on a nearly identical example of original Dongson bronze ware.
Prehistoric trade routes were responsible for distributing bronze pieces besides drums throughout the Indonesian archipelago.For example, ax head handles were made by metalworking techniques unknown to Irian Jaya before the 20th century, so they must have come to the area via trade.It is believed that axes may have been imported to Lake Sentani via Cenderawasih Bay, because residents there in the 16th century had established trade routes with, and learned metalworking from, people in northern Maluku (Kamma and Kooijman 1973).
The ax head was obtained in 1903 along with two other cast copper alloys, a second ax head and a round ornament, from a war trophy beam of the village house of Ase on Lake Sentani.Local residents told van der Sande that these objects had been taken from the lake when their chief was still a child.The relief designs on the ax heads are of particular interest as they closely resemble the spiral facial compositions depicted on the Lapita shards of pottery.These design similarities support a common aesthetic theory among Bronze Age Southeast Asian artisans and prehistoric Oceanic potters.

Iswahyudi
-838-Other bronze items, such as the two anthropomorphic figures collected in the village of Baumata, Timor, may have been made in Indonesia and may be local interpretations of Dongson style treasures.The elaborately crafted figures are laden with neck ornaments, perhaps indicating the high diversity of the individuals they depict.The five-petalled floral ornament in the female figure's genital area shows a pan-Southeast Asian concern with fertility, as does the spiral decoration seen on both figures, especially the spiral which merges at the front of the male figure's body.The bases of both figures suggest that they may have been the hilts or finials on swords or ceremonial staffs.
Some contemporary scholars accept Heine Geldern's diffusionist theory which proclaims the predominant influence of proto-Vietnamese Dongson bronze on Indonesian art styles.In particular, mention of simple geometric and figurative motifs, which may have been created without direct knowledge of bronzes from the Tonkin region, the Dongsonian has been criticized.For example, Toraja carvings and home textiles often include basic geometric and curvilinear motifs identical to those identified by Heger as being basically Dongsonian, but no Dongson drums have ever been found in the Toraja region of Sulawesi (Bernet Kempers, 1988: 304-307).

Several Sites of Mesolithic Paintings
The system of painting cave walls and rocks in Indonesia is a cultural result that was achieved during the advanced hunting and gathering period.Paintings on cave walls and coral rocks were first discovered in 1896 by Jacobsen in the Kei Kecil Islands, Maluku (Heekeren, 1972: 129).This painting is in the form of hand stamps with a red base.This handprinting is known as hand silhouette or hand shadow.Apart from handprint paintings, we also found decorative forms of masks, paintings of people wearing shields, people dancing, people riding boats and people fighting.These paintings were found on rock walls with a height of 10-20 meters above sea level (Heekeren, 1972: 49).
In 1937 J. Roder conducted a research on the island of Seram.In this research he managed to find various rock paintings in various places.The first finding was in the village of Rumasokat on the northern island of Seram.The colors used in this painting are red and white.White is classified as a light color, which is found in paintings of boats and birds.Then the red color is classified as older where there are paintings of humans and lizards (Heekeren, 1972: 129).
Specifically for the South Sulawesi region, paintings on cave walls and rocks are in the Maros complex or the Leang PattaE cave.These paintings were discovered by Van Heekeren in 1950.These paintings consist of handprints and a pig and a deer jumping with an arrow stuck in its heart.The deer has five or six hairs on the back of the neck.According to research by Paul and Fritz Sarasin regarding the life of the Toala tribe in 1903, the paintings around Maros can be considered the oldest paintings in Indonesia.This assumption is based on the fact that the Toala people lived around 300 -100 BC and developed until the early AD.They are thought to be the descendants of the cultural supporters of cave and rock wall paintings (Kosasih, 1983: 7).
Apart from Maros, Van Heekeren also found handprint paintings in the Burung cave.Then C.J.H. Franssen in the village of Chambaroad or the JariE cave found hand-printed paintings but the colors had started to fade.Some of these paintings are still complete with five fingers and some are incomplete with four fingers and also without thumbs (Heekeren, 1952: 30).The latest area of discovery is coral rock wall paintings in the Irian Jaya area.This painting was discovered by J. Roder in 1937 and called this area the first wall culture (Holt, 1967: 17).Various sites are found in Triton Bay, Berau Bay, Bitsyari Bay, Arguni Iswahyudi -839-Bay, Ogar Island, Roon Island and Sentani Lake (Koentjaraningrat and Harsya W. Bachtiar, 1963: 16).
J. Roder found various paintings in the Berau bay area.These paintings are stylized about humans, fish, boats and lizards.The paint used is the colors red, black and white.In his research carried out in this area, J. Roder has succeeded in dividing the paintings based on several styles, namely Tabulinetin style, Manga style, Arguni and Otta I styles and Sosora and Otta II styles.From this division it turns out that there are only two styles that can be studied into two standard characteristics.The first is the style of Arguni and Otta I, which is characterized by always using black.Then the second feature is the style of Sosora and Otta II which J. Roder associates with the tradition of burial (Roder, 1956: 387).
Another discovery in the Irian Jaya area on the island of Muamuram was discovered by Galis.The paintings found do not seem to be much different from those found in Berau Bay.The most monumental opus is a painting of a lizard displayed on the cliff of a lake.This animal is considered a female giant who guards the lake, while the lake itself is considered a door to the spirit world (Galis, 1948: 17).According to Van Heekeren, in general the paintings found are estimated to be 4000 years old (Heekeren, 1952: 33).This opinion is similar to the opinion of Claire Holt who said that these paintings were considered evidence of the existence of a coastal type of society during the Mesolithic period in Indonesia (Holt, 1967: 21).
Many similar paintings outside Indonesia are found on other continents, for example in Europe they were found in the Altamira cave, Spain.This painting is in the form of a bison animal which is in very good condition compared to the pig deer painting in the Leang PattaE cave, Sulawesi.Then there is a painting in the form of an animal with a cow's head in the Laslaux cave in France.In general, paintings found on the European continent are thought to originate from the High Palaeolithic period, so they are older than prehistoric paintings in Indonesia (Cliffton, 1969: 100).
Cave wall paintings in Africa are found in various places.One painting that is similar to hunting life is found in the Southern Rhodesia area, namely a painting of an ox jumping (Read, 1919: 72).Then the paintings in Australia are thought to be of Aboriginal culture.These paintings are found in various places, namely in the Flinders Rangers and Koonalda caves (South Africa), on the MacDonald Cordeaux Dam river (New South Wales).These paintings are found on coral walls and are in the form of humans, fish and birds (Anonymous, 1954: 15).

The Meaning of Painting and Its Influence on Primitive Art in Indonesia
Based on the distribution of several paintings found on cave walls and rocks, it seems that the meaning and idea of their creation can also be seen.At the surface level, it seems that the paintings must have been made by humans at a primitive cultural level.Therefore, to find out the meaning of the opus, action is needed to re-examine the psychological processes of primitive society in relation to their opus.
The boat-shaped paintings found on Seram Island, the Kei Islands and Berau Bay have invited various opinions from experts.From earlier estimates, the boat-shaped painting has a meaning that is closely related to the belief in the spirits of people who have died.It turns out that these kinds of beliefs are still commonly found in Indonesia to this day.In the Toraja area, for example, a death house of the Sa'adah tribe has been found which has a boat-shaped roof (Holt, 1967: 21).The people of the Sa'adah tribe believe that with the shape of a boat on the roof of the house of death, the spirit of the person who has died will sail to the place of origin of their ancestors.In the Sa'adah tribal community, there is also a Iswahyudi -840-story which states that their ancestors came to Sulawesi from the West by boat, and then settled in this area.
On Roti Island, there was a custom in the past where people who died were buried in a coffin called Kupa Tuwa.Kupa means boat and Tuwa means palm palm (Daeng, 1976:47).So Kupa Tuwa means a boat made from palm leaves.People on Roti Island also think that the spirit or spirit of someone who has died will go to their ancestral area.Above his grave, a cylindrical stone was erected as a memorial.In this case, Van der Hoop said that the shape of the boat has the meaning of a vehicle that will carry the spirit on its journey to another world (Hoop, 1949: 70).In connection with the boat paintings found on cave walls and rocks, there is a similarity with burial factors as in the paintings found in Irian Jaya using the Sosora and Otta II styles.
The other paintings are in the form of hand stamps on a red background.The depiction using the color red is probably intended as a force to reject forces that are considered evil originating from outside (Soejono, 1977: 34).A slightly different opinion states that red is used as a means for witchcraft (Soekmono, 1973: 40).According to experts' assumptions that the handprint paintings are as a woman's hand.From the findings of these paintings, there are complete and incomplete fingers.According to Van Heekeren, one of the handprint paintings found in the JariE cave is defined as a woman in mourning (Heekeren, 1950).The expression of this feeling of mourning is done by cutting off one of the knuckles.This tradition can still be found today in the Timorini tribe, one of the tribes in Irian Jaya (Koentjaraningrat and Harsya Bachtiar, 1963: 229).Then, related to local folklore, it is stated that these handprint paintings are called Ambersbui, which means written by foreigners (Galis, 1950).It is also said that the stranger who came first was the one who was blind in both eyes.Therefore, when walking from east to west, he felt with both hands to obtain handprint paintings.
Another painting of a reptile or lizard in Irian Jaya is known as Matutuo because this animal is considered the god of all fish.In general, paintings of this kind are not only found in Irian Jaya, but also in other areas in Indonesia at different times, of course.In the Toba Batak area, for example, Lizard animals are considered a symbol of fertility which are often found as decorations in their homes (Holt, 1967: 14).Likewise, the lizard animal symbol is often found as decoration on the sticks of the Toba Batak people.Furthermore, in Bali, paintings in the form of lizards are often found on sarcophagi of the Bumutin type (Soejono, 1963: 233).On this sarcophage, the shape of the lizard is often depicted with arms and legs raised up beside the body.This animal is often considered to be the incarnation of the spirits of their ancestors or the protective spirits of their descendants.
In contrast to paintings of lizards which are often used as magical values, fish paintings are more interpreted as paintings related to their lives.Fish paintings in the Kei Islands and Irian Jaya are possible because they are an ingredient in the food of the people.This kind of life is common in coastal communities, as can be compared with sites called kjokkenmondinger.
Regarding the painting in the form of a deer pig found in the Leang PattaE cave, South Sulawesi, it also has its own meaning in prehistoric human life.In this painting, a pig deer is depicted jumping with an arrow stuck right in its heart.There are several opinions that this painting was created with a practical purpose because pigs and deer are among the animals that are usually hunted in a hunt.So by describing the animal they have a belief that through magical power the hunt will be successful.It becomes clear that life in those days was hunting.To strengthen this situation, it can also be compared with a painting in the form of an arrow in a cave on the island of Muamuram near Irian Jaya and also findings of arrows made of microlith type stone.

Iswahyudi
-842-When viewed from a visual perspective, the paintings on cave walls and rocks are works of art that show the nature of prehistoric life.The Mesolithic period can be reconstructed as a life span of advanced hunting and food gathering (food gathering) and sedentary living at the initial level (food producing).There is also an opinion that says that in this case there has been a change in the level of life of the community from a wandering (nomadic) life to a settled level of life.Living in caves and alcoves is a first choice because in those places they just live in places.Other housing options are of course also thought to have existed because during the Mesolithic period the burial system was already known.
In these caves they not only do what is needed but also paint something on the cave walls and rocks.Based on the paintings produced during the Mesolithic period, it is possible to understand their way of life at that time.The paintings found on many islands may be a depiction of various events that were considered important in their lives.For example, paintings depict their socio-economic conditions, life experiences, struggles and beliefs.Paintings about life experiences can be identified by finding images that do not have a religious background, as in paintings of fish.Then the paintings depicting a struggle can be identified by the discovery of paintings of battle scenes and people carrying shields.Furthermore, paintings depicting the realm of belief can be seen from paintings of reptiles or lizards, boats and hornbills.