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Hand stencils are among the oldest art we know: people pressed a palm to a cave wall and blew pigment around it. One on Muna Island in Indonesia has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago.

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The method leaves a negative outline: the rock stays bare where the hand was, framed by pigment blown from the mouth or dabbed on. Stencils are found from El Castillo in Spain to Sulawesi in Indonesia, and some are around 40,000 years old. Scientists date them from thin mineral crusts that formed over the paint, measuring the slow decay of uranium in them. In January 2026 a team writing in Nature reported stencils in Liang Metanduno cave on Muna Island, one at least 67,800 years old, which would make it the oldest cave art yet dated. Some experts caution that this method can overstate ages. Why people made them, whether for ritual, identity or simply to leave a mark, is still unknown.

Türkçe oku
El şablonları bilinen en eski sanat eserleri arasındadır. İnsanlar avucunu mağara duvarına dayar, çevresine boya üflerdi. Endonezya'nın Muna Adası'ndaki bir örneğin en az 67.800 yıllık olduğu hesaplandı.

Bu yöntem bir tür negatif iz bırakır: Elin durduğu yerde kaya çıplak kalır, çevresini ise ağızla üflenen ya da tamponla sürülen boya çerçeveler. İspanya'daki El Castillo'dan Endonezya'daki Sulawesi'ye kadar pek çok mağarada el şablonu var; bazıları 40.000 yıl kadar eski. Bilim insanları bu izleri, boyanın üzerinde oluşan ince mineral kabuklardaki uranyumun yavaş bozunmasını ölçerek tarihliyor. Ocak 2026'da Nature dergisinde yayımlanan bir çalışma, Muna Adası'ndaki Liang Metanduno mağarasında bulunan şablonlardan birinin en az 67.800 yıllık olduğunu bildirdi. Bu, onu şimdiye dek tarihlenmiş en eski mağara sanatı yapar. Bazı uzmanlar yöntemin yaşları olduğundan büyük gösterebileceği uyarısında bulunuyor. İnsanların bu izleri neden bıraktığı, bir ayin mi, bir kimlik işareti mi, yoksa yalnızca “buradaydım” demek mi olduğu hâlâ bilinmiyor.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Cave painting
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