Deep inside an Indonesian cave, scientists have uncovered what is now believed to be the oldest known rock art ever discovered.
A red hand stencil pressed onto stone nearly 68,000 years ago.
That’s older than anything found in Europe—and it could rewrite what we know about how early humans moved across the world.
The discovery was made on Muna Island in Sulawesi.
Indonesian archaeologist Adhi Agus Oktaviana guided an international team to the caves.
Ancient Handprints Dated
What stood out immediately? Handprints made by blowing red ochre around a hand.
One even had fingers sharpened into claw-like points—“a style only seen in Sulawesi,” said study co-author Maxime Aubert of Griffith University.
But how do you date something that old?
The team analysed tiny layers of calcite—nicknamed “cave popcorn”—using laser-based uranium-thorium dating.
“It gives us a very precise minimum age,” Aubert explained.
The result? A painting older than similar hand stencils in Spain, some linked to Neanderthals.
So what does a hand on a wall really tell us? That long before written language, humans were already saying: I was here.
