World's Oldest Known Rock Art Found In Indonesian Cave
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A human handprint found deep inside a limestone cave on Indonesia’s Muna Island may be the oldest rock art ever discovered. Dating back nearly 68,000 years, it offers a rare glimpse into the creativity of early humans.
The faint artwork is one of several handprints found on the cave wall. They were all made by pressing a hand against the wall and spraying reddish-brown pigment around it. To determine the age of the paintings, Indonesian archeologist Dr. Adhi Agus Oktaviana and his team analyzed mineral layers that formed over the pigment.
Their findings, published in Nature in January 2026, showed that the oldest stencil was painted at least 67,800 years ago. This is roughly 30,000 years older than the earliest known cave art found in France in 1994. The newly found handprint also has a unique feature. The tip of one finger was altered to look sharp and claw-like. This suggests early humans began showing imagination and creativity far earlier than scientists had previously thought.
"The hand stencil in Muna shows that early modern humans during the Late Pleistocene were already capable of sophisticated thinking," said Dr. Oktaviana.
The researchers say the cave continued to be used for thousands of years. Later artists added paintings of pigs, boats, and human-like figures.
The discovery also offers clues about early human migration. Muna Island lies along a likely migration route out of Southeast Asia toward Australia. The newly found handprint shows that humans were living in the region nearly 68,000 years ago. This supports previously found evidence that people reached Australia around 65,000 years ago. Islands like Muna may have served as stopping points along the way.
Resources: Nature.com, PBS.org, theConversation.com
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27 Comments
wessabout 5 hourslol that's so cool!
lakenya123about 9 hoursyeah that's cool
reneem281 dayWOW! This is so facinating.
slaysloths2 dayswow
dragonyear20252 daysGO COOL CAVE HISTORY!!!- dragonyear20252 daysThis is awsome, I'm all about cool cave history, and the fact that we humans found hand printsin an old cave is extremely awsome!
cats4everrr3 daysThe cave art is pretty yet creepy at the same time- mivozecajira4 daysa little bit sCary but still cool I guess
jupisobyzene5 dayswow
vikewakohuje6 dayscool I wish that if you put your hand on one of them it would take you thro that persons life
