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Journal article
Rock art from at least 67,800 years ago in Sulawesi
Nature, Vol.First online
21/01/2026
PMID: 41565802
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Abstract
The Indonesian archipelago is host to some of the earliest known rock art in the world (Ref 1,2,3,4,5). Previously, secure Pleistocene dates were reported for figurative cave art and stencils of human hands in two areas in Indonesia-the Maros-Pangkep karsts in the southwestern peninsula of the island of Sulawesi (Ref 1,3,4,5)
and the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat region of eastern Kalimantan, Borneo. Here we describe a series of early dated rock art motifs from the southeastern portion of Sulawesi. Among this assemblage of Pleistocene (and possibly more recent) motifs, laser-ablation U-series (LA-U-series) dating of calcite overlying a hand stencil from Liang Metanduno on Muna Island yielded a U-series date of 71.6 ± 3.8 thousand years ago (ka), providing a minimum-age constraint of 67.8 ka for the underlying motif. The Muna minimum (67.8 ± 3.8 ka) exceeds the published minimum for rock art in Maros-Pangkep by 16.6 thousand years (kyr) (ref. 5) and is 1.1 kyr greater than the published minimum for a hand stencil from Spain attributed to Neanderthals (Ref 6), which until now represented the oldest demonstrated minimum-age constraint for cave art worldwide. Moreover, the presence of this extremely old art in Sulawesi suggests that the initial peopling of Sahul about 65 ka (Ref 7) involved maritime journeys between Borneo and Papua, a region that remains poorly explored from an archaeological perspective.
Details
- Title
- Rock art from at least 67,800 years ago in Sulawesi
- Creators
- Adhi Agus Oktaviana - Griffith UniversityRenaud Joannes-Boyau - Southern Cross UniversityBudianto Hakim - Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi NasionalBasran Burhan - Pusat Kolaborasi Riset Arkeologi Sulawesi (Indonesia)Ratno Sardi - Pusat Kolaborasi Riset Arkeologi Sulawesi (Indonesia)Shinatria Adhityatama - Griffith UniversityAndrea Jalandoni - Griffith UniversityHamrullah - Hasanuddin UniversityIwan Sumantri - Pusat Kolaborasi Riset Arkeologi Sulawesi (Indonesia)M Tang - Balai Pelestarian Kebudayaan Wilayah XVIII (Indonesia)Rustan Lebe - Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi NasionalIswadi - Balai Pelestarian Kebudayaan Wilayah XVIII (Indonesia)Imran Ilyas - Balai Arkeologi Sulawesi SelatanAbdullah Abbas - Balai Arkeologi Sulawesi SelatanAndi Jusdi - Pusat Kolaborasi Riset Arkeologi Sulawesi (Indonesia)Dewangga Eka Mahardian - Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi NasionalFadhlan S Intan - Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi NasionalAkin Duli - Pusat Kolaborasi Riset Arkeologi Sulawesi (Indonesia)Sofwan Noerwidi - Pusat Riset Arkeometri (Indonesia)Laode M Aksa - Hasanuddin UniversityM Nur - Hasanuddin UniversityMarlon N R Ririmasse - Pusat Kolaborasi Riset Arkeologi Sulawesi (Indonesia)Nasrullah Aziz - Balai Pelestarian Kebudayaan Wilayah XVIII (Indonesia)Irfan Mahmud - Pusat Riset Arkeologi Prasejarah dan Sejarah (Indonesia)Sri Wigati - Balai Pelestarian Wilayah XVI (Indonesia)Iksam - Museum Sulawesi Tengah (Indonesia)Faiz - Balai Pelestarian Wilayah XVI (Indonesia)M Sabri - University of IndonesiaFardi Ali Syahdar - Universitas Atma Jaya MakassarEriani - Mulawarman UniversityN A Hidayatullah - Universitas Halu OleoSuryatman - Hasanuddin UniversityLaode Darma - Balai Arkeologi Sulawesi SelatanNurmin - Universitas Halu OleoLaode Zulman - Dinas Kebudayaan Buton Selatan (Indonesia)S H Sindara - Universitas Halu OleoAndi Muhammad Saiful - Hasanuddin UniversityPindi Setiawan - Bandung Institute of TechnologyAdam Brumm - Griffith UniversityMaxime Aubert - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Nature, Vol.First online
- Publisher
- Nature Publishing Group
- Grant note
- Australian Research Council (ARC): FT170100025, FT160100119, LE200100022 ARC Discovery Project: DP220100462 Griffith University, Southern Cross UniversityGoogle Arts and CultureNational Geographic Society: NGS-72460R-20 State Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK)National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) of Indonesia
This research was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) fellowships awarded to M.A. (FT170100025), A.B. (FT160100119), R.J.-B. (LE200100022) and ARC Discovery Project DP220100462, with further financial support from Griffith University, Southern Cross University, Google Arts and Culture, and the National Geographic Society (NGS-72460R-20). We thank the State Ministry of Research and Technology (RISTEK) and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) of Indonesia. We thank A. Ardiansyah, A. Azhar, H. Arifianto, Haedar, Aksul, H. Wahyudi, L. Samada, Ajuk, Y. Prasetyo and T. L. Sohi for providing assistance in the field.
- Identifiers
- 991013346937602368
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Office of Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article