The oldest story ever told
A painted scene in Indonesia shows figures interacting with a pig — narrative art, 51,200 years old.
- When
- Known to
- ± 2 thousand years
- Era
- Late Pleistocene, Quaternary
A panel at Leang Karampuang on Sulawesi, dated in 2024 by laser-ablation uranium-series to at least 51,200 years ago, depicts three human-like figures around a large pig. It is the oldest known figurative art anywhere, and more than that: the figures are doing something together, which makes it the oldest known narrative scene. A related panel at Leang Bulu Sipong 4 shows part-human, part-animal figures hunting — the earliest depiction of something that does not exist.