JOURNAL ARTICLE

These ancient handprints may represent some of the world's first rock art: Hand stencils from a Southeast Asian cave predate Neanderthal cave art from Europe.

  • Published In: Sciencemag.org, 2026. P. N.PAG 1 of 3

  • Database: Applied Science & Technology Source Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Price, Michael 3 of 3

Abstract

The article discusses the discovery of brown-pigmented hand stencils in caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, which are dated to at least 67,800 years ago, potentially making them the oldest known examples of rock art globally. This finding suggests that Sulawesi served as a significant waypoint for early human migrants to the region known as Sahul, which connected Australia and New Guinea. Researchers utilized uranium decay measurements to date the art, revealing a continuity in artistic expression among the islands' early inhabitants, with some motifs appearing across tens of thousands of years. If validated, these findings would predate the oldest known Neanderthal cave paintings in Europe by approximately 1,000 years. [Extracted from the article]

Additional Information

  • Source:Sciencemag.org. 2026/01, pN.PAG
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Visual Arts
  • Publication Date:2026
  • Accession Number:191071912
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Sciencemag.org is the property of American Association for the Advancement of Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Looking to go deeper into this topic? Look for more articles on EBSCOhost.