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A STUNNING cave painting discovered in Indonesia may be the earliest evidence of storytelling. The artwork is at least 43,900 years old, and shows that humans were depicting scenes tens of thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

The painting is a 4.5-metre-wide hunting scene, discovered in the limestone cave of Leang Bulu鈥� Sipong 4 in Sulawesi in 2017 by Maxime Aubert of Griffith University, Australia, and his colleagues. Painted in a dark red pigment, it depicts at least eight small human-like figures hunting two pigs and four dwarf buffaloes with spears or ropes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a narrative scene,鈥� says Aubert.

He and his colleagues calculated the painting鈥檚 age by measuring the levels of uranium in calcite layers that cover the images (Nature, ). At 43,900 years old, it could be the oldest figurative cave painting that has yet been found 鈥� although we don鈥檛 know what type of human made them.

Until this discovery, the oldest known artworks depicting visual 鈥渟tories鈥�, with humans and animals interacting in a recognisable scene, dated from around 20,000 years ago and was found in Europe, such as the famous Lascaux paintings in France. 鈥淣ow we show that at least 44,000 years ago, in South-East Asia, humans were telling stories and they were depicting them in rock art,鈥� says Aubert.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a really exciting discovery,鈥� says Genevieve von Petzinger at the University of Victoria, Canada. 鈥淚t shows an alternative timeline of how art developed. When you get a scene like this one, it opens the door a little further.鈥�

The human-like figures appear to have animal characteristics, as seen in the detail pictured above. 鈥淭hey are half human, half animal. If you look closely, one has a tail and another seems to have a bird head,鈥� says Aubert.

Such depictions are known as therianthropes. The oldest previously known example was the Lion Man statue found in Germany鈥檚 Hohlenstein-Stadel cave. Carved around 40,000 years ago, it combines a lion鈥檚 head and human body. Until now, it was the earliest evidence of the ability of humans to conceive of things that don鈥檛 exist in nature 鈥� a capacity linked to imagination and spirituality. 鈥淣ow it seems the same thing was happening in South-East Asia, but even earlier,鈥� says Aubert.

The cave painting gives us a glimpse into the minds of the people who created the Indonesian art, but we don鈥檛 yet know whether they were modern humans or one of our extinct cousins. The team hasn鈥檛 found human remains in the Sulawesi cave, says Aubert, so it isn鈥檛 possible to be sure of the identity of the artists.

One possible group is the Denisovans, who may also have lived in Asia at this time. Earlier this year, while studying a site in China thought to have been home to Denisovans, a team of researchers based in China, France and Norway revealed artistic engravings on a piece of bone rubbed with red ochre.

鈥淲e can鈥檛 completely exclude Denisovans or another species,鈥� says Aubert of the Indonesian cave art. 鈥淭here were probably at least two other species that lived in this region at the same time as modern humans.鈥�

The discovery comes as archaeologists increasingly turn their attentions towards Asia. 鈥淧eople should stay tuned to Asia,鈥� says von Petzinger. 鈥淚n the next decade there will be many exciting announcements coming from this part of the world.鈥�