World’s Oldest Rock Art Discovered in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Key facts

• Scientists have identified a 67,800-year-old hand stencil in Sulawesi, Indonesia, as the world’s oldest known example of rock art.
• The discovery was made by an international team co-led by Griffith University, Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), and Southern Cross University.
• The artwork was located in the Liang Metanduno cave on the island of Muna and was dated using advanced uranium-series dating of mineral layers.
• The stencil represents a rare variation of the hand motif where the finger outlines were intentionally narrowed to create a claw-like appearance.
• The find supports the long chronology model of human migration, suggesting that ancestors of the First Australians reached the Sahul supercontinent at least 65,000 years ago.
• Evidence indicates that painting activity in the Muna cave was a longstanding tradition that continued for at least 35,000 years, lasting until around 20,000 years ago.
• The research provides direct evidence for the presence of modern humans along the northern migration route through Sulawesi and the Spice Islands into Sahul.