A faint hand outline found in an Indonesian cave has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago, making it the oldest known example of rock art and offering new insight into early human migration across Southeast Asia.

The reddish hand stencil was discovered inside a limestone cave on the island of Muna, part of eastern Indonesia, and is now being described by researchers as the earliest surviving expression of human rock art anywhere in the world. Although the image has faded and is barely visible to the naked eye, scientists say it represents a significant milestone in the development of symbolic behaviour among early Homo sapiens.

The artwork was found in Liang Metanduno cave on Muna, a small island off the southeastern peninsula of Sulawesi, east of Borneo. Researchers determined its minimum age by analysing traces of uranium in thin mineral layers that slowly formed over the pigment, a method commonly used to date cave art.

According to the research team, the image was created by placing a hand against the cave wall and blowing pigment over it, leaving a stencil-like outline. What sets this example apart is its distinctive style. The fingertips were deliberately reshaped to appear pointed, a design feature only found in Sulawesi rock art.

“It was almost as if they were deliberately trying to transform this image of a human hand into something else, an animal claw perhaps,” said Maxime Aubert of Griffith University, one of the study’s lead authors. He said the design suggests a deeper symbolic meaning that remains unknown.

Study co-author Adam Brumm said the imagery likely reflects a complex relationship between early humans and the animal world, adding that similar motifs have been found elsewhere in Sulawesi. Previous research in the region documented depictions of human figures with animal characteristics dating back at least 48,000 years.

The newly dated hand stencil is older than a well-known cave painting at Leang Karampuang in southwestern Sulawesi that shows human-like figures interacting with a pig and dates to at least 51,200 years ago. It also predates a hand stencil in Spain’s Maltravieso cave, dated to around 64,000 years ago and attributed to Neanderthals.

Although the Liang Metanduno image itself is difficult to see, researchers found nearly identical hand stencils in better condition nearby, indicating that the design was part of a broader artistic tradition rather than a one-off creation.

The cave today is a tourist site, better known for much later paintings linked to Austronesian-speaking farmers who arrived in the region roughly 4,000 years ago.

• What was the 'perfect snack' 150 million years ago?

Scientists say the discovery has broader implications for understanding how and when modern humans reached Australia. The artists behind the Sulawesi rock art are believed to have belonged to populations that migrated from mainland Asia through Indonesia and may later have continued on to Australia.

For decades, researchers have debated whether humans arrived in Australia around 50,000 years ago or much earlier. Aubert said the newly dated artwork provides the oldest direct archaeological evidence of modern humans in the region and strengthens support for an earlier arrival, closer to 60,000 to 65,000 years ago.

“Together, the archaeological and genetic evidence now strongly supports the long chronology,” Aubert said, adding that the ancestors of Indigenous Australians were already moving through Southeast Asia and creating symbolic art as they travelled.

The findings were published in the journal Nature.

Tags

Indonesia Rock art News early human migration Southeast Asia Muna cave art