Hand stencils like these from a cave in Indonesia have been dated to at least 39,900 years old, making them the oldest known tracings of the human hand. (Photo credit: Kinez Riza)
Cave paintings on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi date back nearly 40,000 years, on par with the oldest known human artwork from caves in Europe.
The paintings include stencils of hands that date back as far as 39,900 years ago, making them the oldest known hand stencils. The paintings also include representations of a babirusa, a pig-like animal found in Indonesia. T
he discovery shows that art was widespread among early modern humans, though further investigation will be needed to show whether it arose independently in different regions.
Original research paper published in Nature on October 8, 2014.
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