A stencilled outline of a hand found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is the world’s oldest known cave painting, researchers say.
It shows a red outline of a hand whose fingers were reworked, researchers say, to create a claw-like motif which indicates an early leap in symbolic imagination.
The painting has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago – around 1,100 years before the previous record, a controversial hand stencil in Spain.
The find also strengthens the argument that our species, Homo sapiens, had reached the wider Australia–New Guinea landmass, known as Sahul, by around 15,000 years earlier than some researchers argue.
Professor Adam Brumm of Griffiths University in Australia, who co-led the project, told BBC News, that the latest discovery, published in the journal Nature, adds to the emerging view that there was no awakening for humanity in Europe. Instead, creativity was innate to our species, the evidence for which stretches back to Africa, where we evolved.
acockworkorange@mander.xyz 2 days ago
I’m glad they increased contrast and saturation, the untreated image made it impossible to discern anything.
Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 days ago
I can sort of see it, but the enhanced version is much more obvious for sure. I assume it’s easier to perceive in person as well.