These 39,000-Year-Old Handprints Are Ancient Human Art

Deep inside Leang Pettakere Cave in the Maros-Pangkep region of southern Sulawesi, Indonesia, ancient humans left behind dozens of red hand stencils. To create them, a person placed their hand against the cave surface and blew red ochre pigment made from hematite around it. When the hand was removed, its outline remained on the rock. Around 26 to 27 hand stencils are still visible today, although some are partly covered by minerals that formed later. A babirusa, or wild pig, is also depicted nearby. The exact age of these particular hand stencils has not been directly established. However, uranium-series dating of calcite deposits covering similar hand stencils in nearby caves has produced minimum ages of around 39,900 years. Other animal paintings in the region have been dated to roughly 35,400 years ago and more than 45,000 years ago. These hand stencils form part of Sulawesi's Late Pleistocene rock-art tradition and are among the oldest securely dated examples of symbolic art associated with Homo sapiens in Island Southeast Asia. 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archevault 📺 Main Channel: @Archevault