Oldest painting – figurative art

The earliest-known examples of figurative art (excluding patterns or traced objects such as hand prints) are at least 51,200 years old, dating to the Late Pleistocene era. On 3 July 2024, a paper published in Nature described a ceiling panel found in the Leang Karampuang limestone cave in the Maros-Pangkep region of Sulawesi, Indonesia, in 2017. The composition in red pigment depicts a pig-like animal (suid) – most likely thought to represent the extant Sulawesi warty pig (Sus celebensis) – interacting with a group of at least three human figures (two holding stick-like objects), possibly depicting a hunting scene. A new method of dating, known as laser-ablation U-series imaging, assessed that the art was created a minimum of c. 53,500 years ago, give or take 2,300 years (hence the youngest possible minimum age of 51,200 years).

As part of the same study, the researchers returned to the nearby Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4 cave, site of a panel featuring four dwarf buffalo (anoas) and two wild pigs being hunted by weapon-wielding human-like figures (including some with composite human-animal characteristics) that was previously deemed the oldest representational art, with a uranium-series dated age of at least 43,900 years old, as reported in Nature on 11 December 2019. Applying the new imaging technique, they concluded that this panel too was significantly older than thought with a revised age of 50,200 years (give or take 2,200 years).

Prior to this, the oldest-known figurative art was also located in this region of Sulawesi: a trio of warty pigs in the Leang Tedongnge cave that uranium dating aged at a minimum of 45,500 years, as discussed in a paper in Science Advances published on 13 January 2021.

Even older examples of non-figurative "traced" or "stencilled" cave art have been documented. Ancient hand stencils, most likely made by Neanderthals, have been found in Spain dated to at least 64,000 years of age by uranium-thorium testing – as reported in the journal Science on 23 February 2018. While what has been described as "humanity's oldest drawing" – a fragment of rock with red ochre cross-hatch lines dated at c. 73,000 years old – was found in South Africa, as reported in Nature on 4 October 2018.

The July 2024 paper was a collaboration between Griffith University (Australia), Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional, Pusat Kolaborasi Riset Arkeologi Sulawesi, Balai Pelestarian Kebudayaan Wilayah XIX, the Center for Prehistory and Austronesian Studies (all Indonesia), led by Adhi Agus Oktaviana, Maxime Aubert and Adam Brumm of Griffith University and Renaud Joannes-Boyau of Southern Cross University (Lismore).