68,000-Year-Old Hand Art Found In Indonesia, Rewriting Human History

New research suggests that Europe may not be where human symbolic culture first began. Scientists have discovered an ancient hand stencil in Indonesia that is nearly 68,000 years old. This finding makes it the oldest known cave artwork in the world and changes long-held ideas about early human creativity, reported the NYPost.

A group of researchers has discovered this ancient artwork in the limestone caves of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. This significant discovery was published in the journal Nature.

The artwork depicts a red human handprint. It was created by blowing red paint onto a cave wall while resting the hand on it, which is considered a very early form of painting.

Photo Credit: nature.com

Scientists analysed the uranium content of the mineral layers underlying the artwork. The study revealed that the handprint is at least 67,800 years old.

This discovery is approximately 15,000 years older than what was previously considered the world's oldest cave painting. That painting, also found in Sulawesi, depicts human-like figures with a pig.

This Indonesian handprint predates the oldest cave painting found in France by approximately 30,000 years.

According to scientists, this artwork is remarkable not only for its antiquity but also for its distinctive style. The fingers in the handprint appear altered, resembling animal claws.

Researchers suggest that people living in what is now eastern Indonesia were creating rock art much earlier than scientists previously believed.

Scientists believe that such changes in the shape of human hands may be linked to symbolic thinking. It is possible that it relates to that ancient society's understanding of human-animal relationships.

The team compared this handprint to another cave artwork from Sulawesi, dated to approximately 48,000 years ago. That painting depicts human figures with bird heads and other animal-like forms.

This discovery challenges the notion that abstract and symbolic thinking began only 40,000 years ago, during the Ice Age in Europe. On the contrary, research suggests that such creative abilities may have been part of human nature long ago.

Professor Adam Brumm of Griffiths University in Australia, who led the research, explained that during his university studies in the 1990s, he was taught that human creativity originated in a limited region of Europe. He said that new evidence from Indonesia indicates modern human behavior, including the creation of narratives through art, undermines this Eurocentric view.