Oldest art on Earth twice as old as Europe's

Borneo (/bore-nee-yo/) is the third-largest island in the world, with an area of 288,869 square miles (748,168 km2) and a population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses) [1, 2, 3]. Situated at the geographic center of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda Islands, located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and east of Sumatra. The island is crossed by the equator, which divides it roughly in half. More

• Human drawings found inside two-billion-year-old African impact crater

CAVES: Borneo has significant cave systems. In Sarawak, the Clearwater Cave has one of the world's longest underground rivers while Deer Cave is home to over three million bats, with guano accumulated to over 330 feet (100 meters) deep [28]. The Gomantong Caves in Sabah have been dubbed the "Cockroach Caves" due to the presence of millions of cockroaches inside [29, 30]. The Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak and Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat Karst in East Kalimantan have karst areas that contain thousands of smaller caves [31].

History of Borneo: the original headhunters

ANCIENT HUMAN ART: Scientists reported the discovery of the oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 years old (perhaps as old as 52,000 years old), of an unknown (bull) animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the island of Borneo in Nov. 2018 [52, 53]. It has been proposed, based on house construction styles, linguistic, and genetic evidence, that Madagascar may have been first populated from southern Borneo. More

• In Cave in Borneo Jungle, Scientists Find Oldest Figurative Painting in the World (The New York Times | Ghostarchive)
• Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo (Astrophysics Data System)

Science?

Gold standard peer reviewed publication

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 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 ka, which to our knowledge is currently the oldest date for figurative artwork from anywhere in the world. In addition, two reddish-orange-coloured hand stencils from the same site each yielded a minimum uranium-series date of... Source: Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo (PubMed)

The Oldest art on Earth: Discovered in a hidden Borneo cave

(documentalism) May 19, 2025: Deep in the rainforests of Indonesian Borneo, a scientist has uncovered ancient secrets hidden in unmapped limestone caves. Join Steve Backshall and an expedition team as it battles through jungle to film what is the oldest figurative cave art ever discovered — dated as being up to 50,000 years old.

This was one of the most memorable expeditions I have ever directed and filmed. It is an amazing privilege to have worked with such an amazing and competent team. In memory of the brilliant Pak Pindi Setiawan. Huge thanks to Steve Backshall, Pak Pindi Setiawan, Aldo Kane, the whole filming team and True To Nature, UKTV, FMI. Watch the full episode on the BBC: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002... Watch more wild expeditions: u.co.uk/shows/expedition-with... #Borneo #CaveArt #Expedition #AncientHistory #SteveBackshall

• Steve Backshall, documentalism, May 19, 2025; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit