November 11, 2018
A paper appearing in the journal Nature this week announces the discovery of figurative cave art dated to approximately 40,000 years ago. In addition there was also found a hand stencil (the outline of a human hand) dated to 51,000 years ago. These are the earliest finds of figurative rock art, according to the authors of the paper, M. Albert et al. Previously, the earliest examples of cave art were from European caves (France and Spain) and dated no later than 32-35,000 years ago.
Thus, this most recent find is not only the oldest to date but is in Asia. The dating is by the uranium series method.
Read this paper in the journal Nature.