Oldest Known Cave Art from Muna Island

Rock art dated to at least 67,800 years ago has been discovered on Muna Island in Indonesia, making it the oldest known cave art in the world. The finding pushes back the timeline of artistic expression by early humans.

The discovery confirms that early Homo sapiens possessed advanced symbolic and artistic abilities during their dispersal out of Africa. But with firm evidence that Homo sapiens were settled on Sulawesi and making complex symbolic art at least 67,800 years ago, it makes it much more likely that controversial archaeological evidence for humans in northern Australia by about 65,000 years is correct, according to Adhi Agus Oktaviana, of the Indonesia’s national research and innovation Agency (BRIN).