A team of scientists has uncovered 2,500 years old cave paintings in the unexplored, tiny Indonesian island of Kisar. The team was able to uncover a total of 28 rock art sites on Kisar which measures just 81 square kilometres and lies north of Timor-Leste.

According to researchers, the paintings help tell the story of the region’s history of trade and culture. Sue O’Connor, from the Australian National University (ANU) said that archaeologically, no one has ever explored Kisar before. She added, “These Indonesian islands were the heart of the spice trade going back for thousands of years. The paintings we found depict boats, dogs, horses and people often holding what look like shields.”

Researchers found that the Kisar paintings very much resembled those in the east end of Timor-Leste. O  ’Connor said that the art of both the islands have a distinctive feature – the size of the human and animal figures are exceptionally small, most being less than 10 centimetres. Despite their size, however, they are remarkably dynamic.

O’Connor said the relationship between the two islands likely extends back to the Neolithic period 3,500 years ago when Austronesian settlers introduced domestic animals, such as the dog, and perhaps cereal crops.