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A hand stencil at Liang Metanduno on Muna Island, Southeast Sulawesi, has a demonstrated minimum age of 67,800 years, making it the oldest minimum-age constraint for cave art reported by the study. That does not mean the stencil was painted exactly 67,800 years ago: scientists dated calcite that formed over the pigment, so the image must be at least that old.
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Where was the ancient hand stencil found?
The stencil is at Liang Metanduno, a cave site on Muna Island in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is a small, poorly preserved patch of faded pigment, about 14 by 10 centimetres, showing part of a hand’s fingers and adjoining palm. One fingertip appears unusually narrow; the researchers suggest this may reflect extra pigment or movement of the hand during application.
The finding emerged from a wider survey that documented 44 rock-art sites in Southeast Sulawesi, including 14 newly documented localities. Researchers dated 11 motifs at eight sites. Nature Portfolio’s announcement summarizes the survey, while the full study reports the dated stencil and its context.
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How did researchers date the painting?
They did not directly date the pigment. Instead, they used laser-ablation uranium-series analysis to measure calcite that had naturally formed over the painted surface. The overlying calcite returned an age of 71.6 ± 3.8 thousand years. Because the calcite formed after the image, its age provides a minimum-age constraint: the stencil is at least 67,800 years old, but could be older. The 2026 Nature study describes the method and result.
This distinction matters: “67,800 years old” is a shorthand for the minimum age established by the dated deposit, not an exact date for when an artist placed a hand against the rock and applied pigment.
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What does “oldest cave art” mean here?
The claim concerns parietal art—art made on a fixed rock surface—and specifically the oldest demonstrated minimum-age constraint reported by the study at publication. It is not a claim that this is the oldest human-made image or mark of any kind. Marks on portable objects are a different category, and discoveries and dating assessments can change.
The stencil is also distinct from the 2024 Sulawesi discovery at Leang Karampuang. That image is a narrative scene of human-like figures interacting with a pig, with a reported minimum age of 51.2 thousand years; it has been described as the oldest known surviving representational art and visual storytelling. The Muna Island stencil is older, but it is a hand image, not a narrative scene. The 2024 Nature paper reports the Leang Karampuang finding.
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The artist’s identity is unknown. Denisovans and Homo sapiens have both been raised as possibilities in reporting, but the stencil itself does not identify its maker. The study’s framing concerns parietal art attributable to our species; that does not establish who made this particular image or resolve the population history of the region.
The researchers argue that very old rock art in Sulawesi is consistent with the possibility that the first peopling of Sahul—the ancient landmass that included Australia and New Guinea—around 65,000 years ago involved sea crossings between Borneo and Papua. The find strengthens an argument for a northern route through Sulawesi; it does not prove a particular route, voyage, or artist’s identity.
Study coauthor Maxime Aubert told the Associated Press: “For us, this discovery is not the end of the story. It is an invitation to keep looking.” The quote appeared in AP’s report on the discovery.
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