World's Earliest Oil Paintings ... in Afghanistan?

The world's earliest oil paintings are "Buddhist images painted in the central Afghan region, dating back to around 650AD" according to an Agence France Presse news report published in The Daily Star. The oil murals "incorporate a mix of Indian and Chinese influences" and it's thought they created by "artists traveling on the Silk Road", the main trade route at that time connecting East and West.

The discovery of these early oil paintings arises from restoration work being done by a "group of Japanese, European and American scientists [collaborating] in caves in the Bamiyan Valley" (where the Taliban destroyed two ancient Buddha statues in 2001). The paintings "used organic substances" as a binder for their pigments, including oil, resin, and plant gum. If it's verified, the section on the origins of oil paintings will need rewriting in art history textbooks... Read news report...