Ancient cave painting discovered in Indonesia

World's oldest animal painting found - 25th January 2021

Scientists have discovered a prehistoric painting of a pig in Indonesia. It is the oldest animal painting in the world and was made 45,500 years ago.

The life sized (136cm by 54cm) male pig was painted with dark red ochre, which is similar to paint. Scientists believe the painted animal was part of a bigger picture, but only the pig is left today. The rest of the image has disappeared.

The painting was discovered in a cave on the island of Sulawesi. Maxime Aubert is the scientist who dated the picture with a special technique. He looked at a mineral which was on top of the painting. He found that the mineral was 45,500 years old. The mineral formed after the picture was painted, so the painting could be older than 45,500 years.

Aubert called the painters of the pig "fully modern". He said, "They were just like us.” He thinks they had “the tools to do any painting they liked."

The painting is the world's oldest art of an animal, but it is not the oldest art. A picture which looks like a hashtag was found in South Africa in 2018. It was made 73,000 years ago.