The oldest firmly dated figurative painting is a warty pig on Sulawesi, Indonesia, at least 45,500 years old. In Spain, cave marks dated to over 64,000 years predate modern humans in Europe entirely — meaning Neanderthals may have been artists too.
Ask where the world’s oldest cave art is, and most people say Lascaux or Chauvet in France. They would be wrong. The record has moved — to Indonesia, and possibly to the hands of another human species entirely.
The oldest painting: a pig on Sulawesi
In a cave called Leang Tedongnge on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, archaeologists dated a life-sized painting of a warty pig to at least 45,500 years ago — currently the oldest known figurative artwork in the world. Nearby caves hold hunting scenes and hand stencils of similar age. The first great gallery of humanity was in tropical Asia, not Ice Age Europe.
Hand stencils and the urge to sign
Some of the most moving early art is the simplest: hand stencils, made by blowing pigment around a hand pressed to the wall. They appear across the world — Sulawesi, Spain, Argentina — a near-universal human gesture that says, simply, I was here.
Did Neanderthals paint?
The bigger shock came from Spain. In 2018, marks in three caves — La Pasiega, Maltravieso and Ardales — were dated by the uranium-thorium method to more than 64,000 years ago. That is well before Homo sapiens reached Europe, which leaves only one candidate for the artist: the Neanderthals. The dating is debated, but if it holds, art is not unique to us.
| Site | Age | Likely maker |
|---|---|---|
| Leang Tedongnge, Sulawesi | ≥45,500 years | Homo sapiens |
| La Pasiega / Ardales, Spain | >64,000 years | Neanderthals (debated) |
| Chauvet, France | ~36,000 years | Homo sapiens |
Older still: shells and ochre
Painting is only the visible tip of symbolism. Engraved ochre and shell beads from Blombos Cave in South Africa reach back ~75,000–100,000 years, and a shell engraved by Homo erectus on Java may be around 500,000 years old. The impulse to make marks is far older than the first painted cave.
Why it matters
The oldest art rewrites two assumptions: that Europe was the cradle of human creativity, and that symbolic thought belonged to our species alone. Creativity, it turns out, was widespread and deep in time — part of the shared inheritance of several kinds of human.
Meet the human species who may all have been artists on the interactive family tree.
Explore the family tree →Frequently asked questions
What is the oldest cave art in the world?
The oldest firmly dated figurative painting is a warty pig at Leang Tedongnge on Sulawesi, Indonesia, at least 45,500 years old. Non-figurative marks in Spain may be older than 64,000 years.
Did Neanderthals make cave art?
Possibly. Marks in three Spanish caves have been dated to more than 64,000 years ago — before modern humans reached Europe — which would make Neanderthals the artists. The dating is debated but taken seriously.
Is the oldest art in France?
No. Although France has famous caves like Chauvet and Lascaux, the oldest known figurative art is in Indonesia, and the oldest possible cave art of all is in Spain, likely made by Neanderthals.
- Brumm, A. et al. (2021). 'Oldest cave art found in Sulawesi.' Science Advances 7. science.org
- Hoffmann, D. L. et al. (2018). 'U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art.' Science 359. science.org
- Henshilwood, C. S. et al. (2011). 'A 100,000-year-old ochre-processing workshop at Blombos Cave.' Science 334. science.org