In the World-famous diving paradise of Raja Ampat, just West of the Bird's Head peninsula of Papua (aka New Guinea), there is more than one of the greatest biodiversity areas of the planet. It has been found recently that off the shore of Misool, one of the major islands of the archipelago, there is also abundance of beautifully conserved Paleolithic murals.
The now submerged rock art is found in 13 different sites (so far), most of them sharing an intriguing pattern of location:
- a large and rather high cliff;
- a cavity, cave, overhang or hole around the foot of the cliff;
- a main coloured (red-yellow to red-brown) wide strip pouring out, or reaching down to the cavity;
- a (facultative) step-bank (coral or karst platform) at the foot.
The art was obviously above the water level until the sea flooded all that area at the end of the Ice Age.