US EditionDiscovery of World’s Oldest Rock Art Reveals the Path Ancient Humans Took Into Ice Age Australia
The 67,800-year-old hand stencil in Sulawesi cave offers key evidence for early modern human migration routes through Wallacea to Australia, supporting presence by 65,000 years ago.
- On January 21, 2025 archaeologists revealed a fragmentary hand stencil in Liang Metanduno cave on Muna island, Southeast Sulawesi province, Indonesia, dated at least 67,800 years old and reported as the oldest known rock art.
- By placing humans in Sahul by about 65,000 years ago, the discovery strongly supports a northern migration corridor through Sulawesi into Sahul and links the cave population to the First Australians, researchers say.
- Researchers dated the stencil using uranium-series dating of calcite deposits, revealing the Liang Metanduno cave served as an art space for at least 35,000 years, ending about 20,000 years ago, and the hand stencil shows unusually tapered, clawlike fingertips.
- Funded by the Australian Research Council, Maxime Aubert and Renaud Joannes-Boyau plan continued searches along the northern route, highlighting Indonesian islands between Sulawesi and New Guinea's archaeological importance and Sulawesi's rich artistic culture at least 67,800 years ago.
- Some experts cautioned that Paul Bahn, British prehistoric rock art expert, questioned the minimum age and media claims, while authors noted species predating Homo sapiens could have made the art, citing previous 51,000-year Sulawesi art and 43,900-year 2019 scene.
16 Articles
16 Articles
World’s oldest rock art discovered in Indonesia
Indonesia’s vast archipelago is covered with the fingerprints of human history: ancient cave paintings.But on an island just off Sulawesi, archaeologists have now identified the world’s oldest known example of rock art to date: the outline of a handprint. Using new laser techniques, scientists dated the faded red imprint back to “at least 67,800 years ago”, said the study, published in Nature. That’s about 1,100 years earlier than hand stencils …
This Handprint May Be the World's Oldest Rock Art
Scientists have identified what may be the earliest rock art ever in a limestone cave in Indonesia from about 67,800 years ago, at least 1,100 years earlier than previously thought.According to new findings published in Nature by a team of Australian and Indonesian researchers, a partial hand stencil with outlined fingers was found inside a cave on Muna, a satellite island of Sulawesi. The painting predates 66,000 year-old rock art attributed to…
Ancient handprints suggest humans were thinking symbolically thousands of years earlier than science taught
Indonesian cave art dating back 68,000 years was discovered on Sulawesi island. The findings represent the oldest archaeological evidence of human presence in Wallacea.
News & Record
Winston-Salem JournalOldest-ever cave art found in Indonesia
NEW YORK — Handprints on cave walls in a largely unexplored area of Indonesia may be the oldest rock art studied so far, dating back to at least 67,800 years ago.
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