Geology

Paleontology

Archaeology

Cave

Geography

Cave painting

Nature

Figurative cave paintings from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi date to at least 35,000 years ago (ka) and hand-stencil art from the same region has a minimum date of 40&nbsp;ka1. Here we show that similar rock art was created during essentially the same time period on the adjacent island of Borneo. Uranium-series analysis of calcium carbonate deposits that overlie a large reddish-orange figurative painting of an animal at Lubang Jeriji Saléh—a limestone cave in East Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo—yielded a minimum date of 40&nbsp;ka, which to our knowledge is currently the oldest date for figurative artwork from anywhere in&nbsp;the world. In addition, two reddish-orange-coloured hand stencils from the same site each yielded a minimum uranium-series date of 37.2&nbsp;ka, and a third hand stencil of the same hue has a maximum date of 51.8&nbsp;ka. We also obtained uranium-series determinations for cave&nbsp;art motifs from Lubang Jeriji Saléh and three other East Kalimantan karst caves, which enable us to constrain the chronology of a distinct younger phase of Pleistocene rock art production in this region. Dark-purple hand stencils, some of which are decorated with intricate motifs, date to about 21–20&nbsp;ka and a rare Pleistocene depiction of a human figure—also coloured dark purple—has a minimum date of 13.6&nbsp;ka. Our findings show that cave painting appeared in eastern Borneo between 52 and 40&nbsp;ka and that a new style of parietal art arose during the Last Glacial Maximum. It is now evident that a major Palaeolithic cave&nbsp;art province existed in the eastern extremity of continental Eurasia and in adjacent Wallacea from at least 40&nbsp;ka until the Last Glacial Maximum, which has implications for understanding how early rock art traditions emerged, developed and spread in Pleistocene Southeast Asia and further afield. Uranium-series dating of rock art from Borneo reveals a minimum date for figurative artwork of 40,000 years ago, and a distinct style of parietal art in Southeast Asia at the Last Glacial Maximum.\

Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo