Explanation

An Indonesian cave painting that depicts a hunting scene could be the world’s oldest figurative artwork, dating back nearly 44,000 years, pointing to an advanced artistic culture, according to new research. Discovered two years ago in the cave Bulu Sipong 4 on the island of Sulawesi, the 4.5-meter-wide (13-foot) painting features wild animals being chased by half-human hunters wielding what appear to be spears and ropes, said the study, published in Nature on Wednesday. Using dating technology, the team at Australia’s Griffith University said it had confirmed that the painting in the limestone cave originated at least 43,900 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic period. “This hunting scene is — to our knowledge — currently the oldest pictorial record of storytelling and the earliest figurative artwork in the world,” researchers said. The discovery comes after a painting of an animal in a cave on the Indonesian island of Borneo was earlier determined to be at least 40,000 years old.