Cave art captures the imagination. It also provides evidence of complex and abstract thought by prehistoric people. The latest claim for the oldest cave art is a painting of a warty pig from the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Dating to 45,000 years ago, the painting is almost 2,000 years older than the previous record holder. Early humans depicted animals and objects that were likely important to them. Besides cave art possibly made by Neanderthals, all other cave paintings were made by our own species, Homo sapiens. With multiple examples of cave art over 30,000 years old, Sulawesi could have been a center of prehistoric creativity, with more cave art still to be discovered.

These findings were presented in the journal Science Advances on January 13th, 2021, by Brumm and colleagues .