Enlightenment from the Rubble

One of the many atrocities committed by the Taliban during their reign in Afghanistan was the destruction of the ancient massive Buddhas carved into the face of a cliff wall in the Bamyan Valley. Ironically, in their religious fervor to stamp out non-Islamic influences, the Taliban apparently uncovered something of equal significance.

Ever since the Taliban fell, scholars have been studying ancient paintings on the cave wall that came to light after the Buddhas were destroyed. That study has upset one of the foundations of modern art history:

Although caves decorated with precious murals from 5th to 9th century A.D. also suffered from Taliban attacks on this World Heritage Site, they have since become the focus of a major discovery, revealing Buddhist oil paintings that predate those in Renaissance Europe by hundreds of years.

Scientists have proved, thanks to experiments performed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, that the paints used were based of oil, hundreds of years before the technique was 'invented' in Europe, when artists found they could use pigments bound with a medium of drying oil, such as linseed oil.

In many European history and art books, oil painting is said to have started in the 15th century in Europe. But the team that used the ESRF, an intense source of X rays, found the Bamiyan paintings date back to the mid-7th century AD.

I'm not generally a "turn lemons into lemonade" kind of guy, but I'm pleased to see that even the blind bigotry of the Taliban's campaign of destruction can't hide the fact of Bamyan's significance.