Oldest known rock art is a 68,000-year-old hand stencil with claws

Key Highlights

• The rock art is approximately 68,000 years old.
• The hand stencil appears to have been altered to resemble claws.
• This discovery predates the previous record-holder from Spain by about 1,100 years.
• The find indicates early symbolic imagination among humans.
• It supports theories that Homo sapiens reached the Sahul landmass earlier than previously thought.