Over 50,000-year-old cave painting of three human-like figures carrying spears next to wild pig is the oldest story-related artwork ever discovered

A painting that dates back more than 50,000 years is the oldest piece of story-related artwork yet discovered, experts have said.

The cave painting which was found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, shows three human-like figures carrying rods standing in front of a wild pig.

Researchers from Griffith University in Australia said the image is ‘now the earliest known surviving example of representational art, and visual storytelling in the world’.

Dating back at 51,200 years, it is considerably older than the famous cave paintings at Lascaux, in France, which are 17,000 years old. 

The authors, writing in Nature, said paintings of human and animal figures ‘have a deeper origin in the history of modern human image-making than recognised to date’ and suggest a ‘rich culture of story telling’ in the region.

Storytelling in visual art only appeared ‘tens of thousands’ of years later in Europe, they said.

The very oldest art of any kind are grid-like markings inscribed on small lumps of ochre in Southern Africa, which date back as far as 100,000 years.