A 67,800-Year-Old Handprint May Be the World’s Oldest Rock Art

New York Times - WorldCenter-LeftEN 4 min read 100% complete by Claire Moses and Yan ZhuangJanuary 22, 2026 at 05:22 PM

AI Summary

long article 4 min

A 67,800-year-old handprint discovered in the Liang Metanduno cave on Muna Island, Indonesia, may be the oldest known rock art. Indonesian scientist Adhi Agus Oktaviana identified the faint hand stencil beneath later cave paintings in 2015. Researchers from Australia and Indonesia used uranium-series analysis to date calcium carbonate deposits covering the artwork, establishing a minimum age. The handprint, depicting a hand with modified, claw-like fingers, predates other known cave art in the region. While the dating suggests significant antiquity, some experts caution against definitively labeling it the world's oldest, emphasizing it is among the oldest currently known.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Paul Bahn 50% Nature 50% Griffith University 50% Australia 60% Maxime Aubert ×260% Southeast Sulawesi 60% Liang Metanduno cave 70% Adam Brumm 70% Muna ×280% Indonesia ×390% Adhi Agus Oktaviana ×290%

Keywords

rock art 100% ancient handprint 90% cave painting 70% dating technique 60% indonesia 50% uranium-series analysis 50% prehistoric art 40% archaeology 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Positive

Score: 0.30

Source Transparency

Source

New York Times - World

Political Lean

Center-Left (-0.30)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Indonesia

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

rock art ancient handprint cave painting dating technique indonesia uranium-series analysis prehistoric art archaeology

Explore Full Topic Graph