Located in the Maros-Pangkep karst caves of South Sulawesi, Indonesia (most notably Pettakere Cave), these ancient paintings constitute some of the earliest chapters in art history. Uranium-series dating of calcite coralloid overgrowths has shown that the hand stencils have a minimum age of 39,900 years, while the animal drawings (such as the native babirusa or pig-deer) date back to at least 35,400 years. Subsequent discoveries pushed these boundaries further to 45,500 years (Leang Tedongnge) and even 51,200 years (Leang Karampuang).

The hand stencils were created by placing the hand against the limestone surface and blowing red ochre pigment over it. This technique represents a foundational human desire to imprint one's physical presence onto the world, symbolizing self-awareness and connection to a place.

The Sulawesi discoveries fundamentally disrupted the Eurocentric model of prehistoric art development, which previously positioned European sites like Lascaux and Altamira as the singular birthplace of creative thought. It proves that advanced artistic representation and complex symbolic behaviors emerged globally, either through parallel development or much earlier migrations out of Africa.