Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – A hand stencil discovered on the wall of a cave in Indonesia has been identified as the world’s oldest known rock art, surpassing previous archaeological finds in the region by at least 15,000 years.
An international research team—including experts from Griffith University, Indonesia’s national research and innovation agency (BRIN), and Southern Cross University—found and dated these cave paintings on Sulawesi island to at least 67,800 years ago.
Map showing the island of Muna, Sulawesi. Credit: Generated by M. Kottermair and A. Jalandoni using ArcGIS.
A Link To The Ancestors Of Indigenous Australians
According to the researchers, this discovery offers new insights into early human migration and settlement patterns in Australia, suggesting that the Sulawesi artwork was likely created by a population closely related to the ancestors of Indigenous Australians. The hand stencil was preserved in limestone caves on Muna Island in southeastern Sulawesi and was found alongside more recent painted art.
To determine its age, scientists used advanced uranium-series dating methods to analyze microscopic mineral deposits that had formed both above and below the paintings at Liang Metanduno cave. This approach allowed them to establish a timeframe for the creation of the ancient art.
67,800-Year-Old Hand Stencil
The hand stencil discovered in the Muna cave has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago, making it the oldest reliably dated cave art found to date. This predates the rock paintings uncovered in Sulawesi by the same research team in 2024. The study also revealed that the Muna cave was used for artistic purposes over an exceptionally long period—paintings were created there repeatedly for at least 35,000 years, continuing until around 20,000 years ago.
67,800 yr old hand stencil (with highlight). Credit: Max Aubert
“It is now evident from our new phase of research that Sulawesi was home to one of the world’s richest and most longstanding artistic cultures, one with origins in the earliest history of human occupation of the island at least 67,800 years ago,” said Professor Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist and geochemist from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research (GCSCR), who co-led the study in a press release.
The researchers also noted that this particular hand stencil is a unique variant: after its creation, it was intentionally modified so that the negative outlines of the fingers appeared narrower and more claw-like. Professor Adam Brumm from Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), another co-leader of the study, remarked that while this alteration is intriguing, its symbolic meaning remains open to interpretation.
Leang Metanduno, Muna, Sulawesi. Credit: Ratno Sardi
“This art could symbolise the idea that humans and animals were closely connected, something we already seem to see in the very early painted art of Sulawesi, with at least one instance of a scene portraying figures that we interpret as representations of part-human, part-animal beings,” Professor Brumm said.
Dr Adhi Agus Oktaviana, a rock art specialist in BRIN and a team lead, whose doctoral research at Griffith University formed part of this study, said the paintings had far-reaching implications for our understanding of the deep-time history of Australian Aboriginal culture.
“It is very likely that the people who made these paintings in Sulawesi were part of the broader population that would later spread through the region and ultimately reach Australia,” Dr Oktaviana said.
There has been significant debate among archaeologists about when humans first occupied the Pleistocene-era landmass known as Sahul, which included present-day Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. Scholars have been divided between two main models: the short chronology model suggests that humans first entered Sahul around 50,000 years ago, while the long chronology model proposes an earlier arrival of at least 65,000 years ago.
“This discovery strongly supports the idea that the ancestors of the First Australians were in Sahul by 65,000 years ago,” Dr Oktaviana said.
Dr Adhi Agus Oktaviana illuminates another hand stencil found on Sulawesi. Credit: Max Aubert
Researchers have proposed two primary migration routes into Sahul: a northern route leading to the New Guinea region of Sahul via Sulawesi and the ‘Spice Islands,’ and a more southerly route that brought sea voyagers directly to the Australian mainland through Timor or nearby islands. According to Professor Renaud Joannes-Boyau, who co-led the study and is from the Geoarchaeology and Archaeometry Research Group at Southern Cross University, recent discoveries provide important insights into these ancient journeys.
The findings suggest that early humans most likely traveled from mainland Asia to Sahul by island-hopping along the northern route.
“With the dating of this extremely ancient rock art in Sulawesi, we now have the oldest direct evidence for the presence of modern humans along this northern migration corridor into Sahul,” Professor Joannes-Boyau said.
“These discoveries underscore the archaeological importance of the many other Indonesian islands between Sulawesi and westernmost New Guinea,” said Professor Aubert, who, together with professors Brumm and Joannes-Boyau, continues to search for more evidence of early human art and occupation along the northern route with funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC).
See also: More Archaeology News
The research on early rock art in Sulawesi has been featured in a documentary film, ‘Sulawesi l’île des premières images’ produced by ARTE, released in Europe today.
The study was published in the journal Nature
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer