RAHA, Indonesia (Kashmir English): Archaeologists have discovered world’s oldest cave painting on Indonesia’s Muna Island.
Hand stencils found on limestone walls are believed to be up to 67,800 years old, depicting the artistic and cultural sophistication of early humans in the region.
Indonesian and Australian researchers analysed tan-coloured handprints made by blowing pigment over hands placed against cave walls.
The oldest stencil was found beneath newer paintings depicting a person riding a horse alongside a chicken.
According to lead researcher, Adhi it was initially challenging to prove the stencils were human hands, but closer inspection revealed fingertip shapes, some deliberately pointed.
“The oldest hand stencil described here is distinctive because it belongs to a style found only in Sulawesi,” said Maxime Aubert, archaeological science specialist at Griffith University in Australia.
Symbolic meaning behind Indonesia art
Co-author Adam Brumm, also from Griffith University, is of the opinion that the reshaped fingertips may have symbolized something beyond human hands, possibly animal claws.
“It suggests a deeper cultural meaning,” Brumm said, “reflecting ancient peoples’ complex symbolic relationship with the animal world, though the exact significance remains unknown.”
Precise dating techniques reveal age
The team determined the minimum age of the art by analysing uranium in mineral layers over the pigment. Calcite samples, just five millimetres wide, were lasered to measure uranium decay compared with stable thorium.
“This very precise technique gave us a clear minimum age for the painting,” Aubert said, confirming the artwork could be as old as 67,800 years.
The caves on Muna Island in Indonesia contain the world’s oldest known rock art, a tradition of human creativity that spanned millennia.
The newly discovered hand stencils, some dating to a minimum of 67,800 years ago, showcase the region’s long history of symbolic expression.
The sites demonstrate continuous use for art production over an extended period, with some newer images painted over ancient ones as much as 35,000 years later.
This discovery is more than 15,000 years older than previous art found by the same research team in nearby Sulawesi in 2024, pushing back the timeline for early human artistic capabilities and providing direct evidence of early modern human seafaring and migration.
According to archaeologist Adhi Agus Oktaviana, the findings support the theory that early humans migrated through Sulawesi and into the ancient supercontinent Sahul (which included modern-day Australia and New Guinea), highlighting the ancestors’ talents as both great sailors and artists.
