World's Oldest Rock Art Found in Indonesia: Sulawesi Is Home to Most Enduring Art

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A hand stencil or handprint on the cave wall in Sulawesi, Indonesia, has now become the oldest known rock art in the world. Its age is estimated at least 67,800 years, surpassing previous cave art discoveries in the same region by up to 15,000 years.

The research involved a team of researchers from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), along with Griffith University and Southern Cross University. The painting was found in the limestone cave of Liang Metanduno, Muna Island, Southeast Sulawesi, and its age was determined using the laser-ablation uranium-series dating technique on microscopic mineral deposits formed around the painting.

The analysis results showed an age of 71,600 3,800 years, which sets a minimum age limit of 67,800 years for this hand stencil. According to Adhi Agus Oktaviana, a researcher at the Archaeometry Research Center of BRIN, this minimum age is 16,600 years older than the rock art from Maros-Pangkep. This painting is also 1,100 years older than hand stencils from Spain.

"Here, the rock arts become one of the supporting evidence of the early modern human migration to the archipelago," said Adhi during an event at the BRIN B.J. Habibie office in Jakarta, on Thursday, January 22, 2026. He mentioned that the creators of the paintings in Sulawesi were possibly part of a population that later spread to the Sahul region-the ancient landmass that included Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea.

"It is very likely that the creators of these paintings in Sulawesi were part of a population that later spread further east and ultimately reached Australia," said the head of the research team. "This discovery strongly supports the idea that the Aboriginal people of Australia had been in Sahul around 65,000 years ago."

Professor Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist and geochemist from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research (GCSCR), stated that this research shows that Sulawesi is home to the world's richest and most enduring art. "One of the oldest and most sustainable artistic cultures, with roots dating back to the early human habitation in this region," he said.

The discovered hand stencil is fragmentary and surrounded by paintings from much later periods. The research also indicates that the caves on Muna Island were used as art production sites for a very long period, with painting activities taking place for at least 35,000 years up to about 20,000 years ago. The research team noted that the stencil is a unique variant of global hand stencil motifs.

After its creation, the hand stencil was intentionally modified, causing the negative lines of the fingers to become narrower and resemble a clawed hand shape. The symbolic meaning of this change is still under study by researchers.

"This art may symbolize the idea that humans and animals have a very close relationship, something that seems to have been observed in early Sulawesi paintings, with at least one scene depicting figures interpreted as half-human, half-animal," said Professor Adam Brumm from the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Griffith University.

The study titled "Rock art from at least 67,800 years ago in Sulawesi" has been published in the journal Nature and was supported by the Australian Research Council, Google Arts & Culture, and the National Geographic Society.

Read: Indonesia Designates World's Oldest Rock Art in Sulawesi as Cultural Heritage

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