This handout image released by Griffith University on July 3, 2024, shows a 51,000-year-old artwork which was first spotted in a cave on Indonesia's Sulawesi island in 2017. It may not look like much - just a patchy sketch of three people surrounding a big red pig. But this humble cave painting found in Indonesia is the oldest known narrative artwork ever made by human hands, dating back more than 51,000 years, new research said on July 3, 2024.
The latest discovery, which was dated using a new laser technique, marks"the first time we've passed the 50,000-year barrier," said Aubert, a co-author of a new study in Nature describing the find. This laser ablation technique is more precise, easier, quicker, cheaper, and requires much smaller rock samples than the previous uranium series method, Aubert said.It determined that the hunting scene was actually at least 48,000 years old -- 4,000 years older than the uranium series method determined in 2019.
Previously the first narrative art was thought to have emerged in Europe. A"lion man" statue found in Germany has been dated to around 40,000 years ago.