Scientists believe that a human hand found in a cave on Muna Island, southeast of Sulawesi, Indonesia, may be the oldest known rock art in the world. Created at least 67800 years ago in a limestone cave called Liang Metanduno, the image dates back to the earliest known human creations.
The red-painted hand stencil is barely visible on the cave wall. Scientists say the image was created by placing the palm of a hand on a rock wall and sprinkling pigment around it. Researchers have determined the age of the image by analyzing uranium elements in mineral layers that formed on top of the paint.
The 67800-year-old find is about 1100 years older than the oldest hand image found so far in Spain.
Scientists believe that the creators of the Indonesian rock art belonged to a group of people who crossed from the Asian mainland to the Indonesian islands and then continued their journey to Australia.
A scientific article about the discovery was published in the journal Nature. “This ancient hand sculpture is unique because it was made in a style found only in Sulawesi,” says Maxime Ober, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia and one of the leaders of the scientific work.
