Blast from the past: Lion man statue, red disk paintings were first pieces of art found in caves

A hunting scene etched inside a cave in Sulawesi island in Indonesia featuring mythical animal-human hybrids has been found to be at least 43,900 years old, making it the oldest known pictorial record of storytelling and earliest figurative artwork in the world.

Here are two other artworks found in caves that were created more than 40,000 years ago:

Lion Man
First discovered in 1939 in Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave in eastern Germany, the half-lion and half-lion ivory figurine is at least 40,000 years old. The statue was found as small ivory fragments that were assembled and restored in 1969.

Red Disk
Drawn inside the El Castillo cave in northern Spain, one of the many red ochre disks has been dated as far back as 40,800 years using uranium-thorium dating. There are more primordial paintings including stencils of human hands in nearby Altamira and Tito Bustillo caves.