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
looper6 daysWOW...imagine being a (human?) putting your hand on a rock and 60,000 years later modern humans find it...
jp2477 daysso cool just imagen you find them in a cave and put your hands on the handprints your hands have just experienced 1000 years of human history- bulicotejoja7 daysSoo coul
ilovebunnies7 daysThat is actually really really old. Imagine those handprints for that long period of time. It's 😲 incredible 🤯- ilovebunnies7 daysmind blowing
- ilovebunnies7 daysWow. That is really old. Yikes.
- tafudewihyji7 daysso cool
- tafudewihyji7 daysI wonder if it was humans
- tafudewihyji7 daysso cool
noahsro327 daysNice
