A scene of what appears to be boars, wild cattle and humanlike figures is the oldest lifelike figure cave art we have found yet. Adorning the back wall of an Indonesian cave, the almost 15-foot panel is likely over 44,000 years old. And, say the researchers who found them, the illustrations might also represent the oldest evidence we have of our ancestors telling stories through drawings.
The eight somewhat-human illustrations also boast bits of animals, according to the researchers' interpretation of the find, which they lay out in a new paper in Nature. One has a crocodile-like lower half, another is part reptile, part human and part steer. These fantastical creatures might be hunting the larger animals in the picture, the Australian and Indonesian research team thinks.
