The Oldest Oil Painting in the World.
Bamiyan is a town 240km(149miles) from Kabul, Afghanistan. Scientists have proved the first-ever oil painting in the caves, hundreds of years before oil paint was used in Europe. These samples of oil paintings, dating from the 7th century AD, were taken from the caves behind two statues of Buddha which is blown up by the Taliban in 2001. The reason for that was because it was un-Islamic.
The scientist discovered paintings in 12 of the 50 caves were created using oil paints, possibly from walnut or poppy, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France said.
This is the earliest clear example of oil painting in the world. Drying oils were already used by Romans and Egyptians but only for medicine and cosmetics.
In the 13th century, Europe oil was added to paints and in early 15th-century oil paint was widely used in Europe.
The cave paintings were probably the work of artists traveling along the Silk Road, the ancient trade route between China, across Central Asia to the West.
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