World’s oldest cave paintings under threat as wildfires rage across Indonesia

Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Researchers warn that heat and smoke from Indonesia ’s fiercest wildfires in more than ten years threaten to accelerate the deterioration of the world's oldest cave paintings, located on the island of Sulawesi . An intense El Niño has pushed temperatures higher and reduced rainfall, leaving forest and peatland areas vulnerable to widespread blazes.

The country is currently facing its most severe land and forest fires since 2015. Although the disaster has hit the islands of Sumatra and Borneo hardest, flames have reached South Sulawesi, where the ancient artwork is preserved within limestone caves. In a cave in South Sulawesi's Maros-Pangkep, an artwork depicting human-like figures interacting with a pig was dated by researchers from Australia's Griffith University to be at least 51,200 years old.

In a cave on Muna Island, off Sulawesi, a reddish-coloured hand stencil was dated to at least 67,800 years. Near the Maros-Pangkep cave, firefighters worked to put out fires as smoke drifted over the dramatic karst landscape that is a defining feature of the national park and UNESCO Global Geopark surrounding the cave. open image in gallery A rock painting depicting a pig at a cave in Maros-Pangkep, South Sulawesi province, Indonesia, October 12, 2026 ( Reuters ) Firefighter Muhammad Ikfar said fires burned near the site for more than a week earlier this month and came within 800 metres (2,625 feet) of the cave.

More than 270 hectares (667 acres) of the national park burned between September 30 and October 18, Ikfar said. "The first and most destructive effect is the heat. Even without direct fire touching the paintings, it could ruin them because it changes the temperature around the paintings and accelerates the process of corrosion," said Griffith University archaeologist Basran Burhan. The smoke also creates soot. "They create soot on the paintings and cover them, so that the paintings will become blurred and difficult to identify," he said. open image in gallery Firefighters of Manggala Agni prepare hoses as smoke rises from a wildfire on a hill in Maros-Pangkep, South Sulawesi ( Reuters ) On Thursday and Friday, firefighters were working to put out fires in other parts of the park, firefighter Ikfar said, adding that the conditions were dry with no rain yet.

"If we don't do something about this quick, if there isn't any tactical mitigation efforts for this incident we will lose one of the most amazing evidence of human history in Maros-Pangkep," Burhan said. "And that is a great shame."