A newly identified cave painting on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago, making it the oldest known example of cave art in the world, according to researchers.

Oldest Known Cave Painting Identified

The discovery is a red hand stencil found in a limestone cave on Muna Island, off south-eastern Sulawesi. The cave painting shows a negative outline of a human hand, created by pressing the hand against the rock and spraying pigment around it. Thin mineral crusts covering the stencil indicate its minimum age of 67,800 years.

This date places it around 1,100 years older than the previous record-holder, a controversial hand stencil from Spain.

Evidence of Early Symbolic Thinking

Researchers say the cave painting is significant because the fingers were deliberately reworked after the stencil was made. They were narrowed and elongated to resemble claws, suggesting an early example of symbolic imagination rather than simple decoration.

This kind of creative modification indicates abstract thinking, which underpins storytelling, identity and shared meaning in human societies.

Challenging Eurocentric Views of Art

The find adds to growing evidence that artistic and symbolic behaviour did not originate in Ice Age Europe alone. Over the past decade, multiple discoveries of cave painting in Sulawesi have steadily pushed back the timeline of sophisticated image-making.

Earlier finds in the region include hand stencils and animal figures dated to at least 40,000 years ago, followed by narrative scenes as old as 51,200 years.

Implications for Human Migration

Sulawesi lies along the northern sea route between mainland Asia and the ancient Australia–New Guinea landmass known as Sahul. The presence of complex cave painting on the island nearly 68,000 years ago strengthens arguments that Homo sapiens reached Sahul much earlier than the commonly cited 50,000 years ago.

Researchers suggest the artists behind these paintings were likely part of the populations that later spread into Australia.

A Long Tradition of Cave Art in Sulawesi

The newly dated stencil comes from Liang Metanduno cave, which also contains much younger paintings, some created around 20,000 years ago. This shows the cave was used repeatedly for artistic expression over tens of thousands of years.

The wide geographic spread of these discoveries across Sulawesi indicates that cave painting was deeply embedded in regional cultures, rather than a short-lived or local experiment.

The discovery of the world’s oldest known cave painting in Sulawesi reinforces the view that creativity and symbolic thinking were innate to Homo sapiens long before their arrival in Europe. The 67,800-year-old hand stencil not only reshapes the global history of cave art but also supports earlier human migration into Australia.