Ancient cave art discovered in Indonesia – the world’s oldest hunting scene?

The drawings extend almost 80′ feet across the back wall of one of the many cave art sites in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Thought to be one of the oldest hunting scenes ever discovered, the paintings are estimated to be at least 44,000 years – putting them as twice as old as some of the ancient cave art drawings discovered in Europe.

The mural portrays a group of hunters confronting at least two separate prey suggesting a ‘game drive’, a communal hunt in which animals are flushed from cover and directed towards waiting hunters possibly for live capture. “Although the meanings of the imagery are uncertain .. this rock art scene may be regarded not only as the earliest dated figurative art in the world but also as the oldest evidence for the communication of a narrative in Palaeolithic art ” (Earliest hunting scene in prehistoric art, Nature – published on-line December 2019)