Discover the world’s oldest known rock art in Indonesia
The world's largest digitized collection of ancient rock art is now available to explore on Google Arts & Culture, through partnership between Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture, BRIN (Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency), Griffith University and Google Arts and Culture. Indonesian and Australian archaeologists have documented more than 500 notable sites within more than 100 Indonesian caves, from Sumatra to Papua. You can view almost 600 high-resolution rock art images, explore seven 3D cave models and tour 24 caves through 360-degree views.
The world’s oldest hunting scene.
Rock art on a Papua cliff.
New technology: the laser-ablation uranium-series imaging. Instead of micro-excavating arbitrary layers of calcium carbonate, this method shines a tiny laser onto a polished cross section of the cave.
Over two and a half years, teams from BRIN, Griffith University and Google Arts & Culture meticulously documented these ancient sites, at times using advanced laser technology. They have revealed human stories that stretch back more than 50,000 years, with the oldest example dating back to 51,200 years. Their discoveries include the world’s oldest known narrative cave art, the earliest depiction of a hunting scene and evidence of early surgical practices.
This digital preservation makes these windows into the past accessible. Lecturers and archaeologist teams are using these resources for education and outreach both inside and beyond the boundaries of the classroom. This initiative not only preserves these sites digitally, but also helps illuminate our shared human origins, and broadens these historical narratives from Indonesia to the world.
In a related effort to protect and promote its cultural heritage, Indonesia, as a State Party to the World Heritage Convention, intends to nominate the Maros Pangkep caves, which are particularly known for their ancient rock painting and featured in the online collection, for World Heritage inscription. This nomination aligns with Indonesia’s commitment to identify, conserve and transmit its heritage to future generations. By proposing the Maros Pangkep site, Indonesia also supports international cooperation in preserving what is considered to have outstanding universal value, further demonstrating its dedication to fulfilling its obligations under the Convention while highlighting the site’s profound significance to humanity.
Take a journey to Indonesia’s ancient caves at goo.gle/indonesiarockart.
