Humanity's First Story

Discover the oldest painted scene in the world, dating from 50,000 years ago

In collaboration with Indonesia's Archaeology, Language and Literature Research Organization

Humanity's original masterpiece

How do you date a cave painting?

A story as old as time

The painting, which is at least 48,000 years old, depicts several human-like figures hunting wild pigs and dwarf water buffalo.

The human figures are shown using a variety of hunting weapons, including spears, bows and arrows, and nets. This suggests that early humans were skilled hunters who were able to adapt to different environments.

In this scene, the hunters are painted as therianthrope, a creature that is part human and part animal. The scene portray human hunters may wears animal skins, masks, or other animal body parts as camouflage.

Here, you can see the human figure crouches with one arm holding a long stick and on the back like a tail as a camouflage for hunting animal

Anoa, seen here, is considered a more dangerous animal than a wild pig. These early human hunters attacked the anoa in a group with several long sticks.

50,000 years of history up close

An ancient gallery

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