Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: February 28, 2003
Article Type: Journal

The hope that a cave painting in Indonesia might shed light on the antiquity of the kite globally (Drachen Journal No. 10, Page 18) has been stalled, at least for the time being. What is needed is scientific verification of age, a possibly complicated and expensive matter, although dating possibilities are numerous and wide-ranging.

Robert Bednarik, president of the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations responded on the issue of dating the painting after receiving an illustrated article by Wolfgang Bieck. In it, Bieck claimed a cave image of a man flying a kite on remote Muna island, Sulawesi, was the oldest rendering of kiteflying in the world. The Chinese traditionally have claimed to have invented the kite some 2,400 years ago. Bieck’s article included a number of site photographs, including one of the kite image. Bednarik, an Australian, wrote:

“Thank you for advising me of your find in Sulawesi.

“The paintings are clearly in a limestone cave, apparently close to the entrance. The probability of dating these figures convincingly is very low.

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