In a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, a hand stencil has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago, making it the oldest known example of rock art currently identified anywhere in the world. The finding comes from uranium series analysis of mineral layers that formed over the painted surface. Researchers say the date provides a firm minimum age for the artwork and pushes back the timeline for symbolic expression in the region. The cave lies in the southeastern part of Sulawesi, an area that has received far less archaeological attention than the well known Maros Pangkep karsts. The result adds to growing evidence that early human communities in Wallacea were producing complex imagery much earlier than once thought.
