The tan-coloured drawings analysed by Indonesian and Australian researchers were made by blowing pigment over hands placed against the cave walls, leaving an outline, scientists said on Wednesday.
According to the Jakarta Post news outlet, archaeologist Adhi Agus Oktaviana from Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) has been looking for hand stencils in the Muna island region, in Sulawesi province, since 2015.
Adhi found the hand stencils, which have now been dated, under newer paintings in the cave of a person riding a horse alongside a chicken.
At first, Adhi said it was difficult to prove to his co-researchers that the stencils were hands as he believed, but he “finally found some spots that looked like human fingers”.
