蜜芽传媒

A pattern of hand and footprints made by children in Tibet more than 220,000 years ago is the oldest artwork ever to be found, according to the scientists who analysed it.

The five handprints and five footprints were were pressed into some soft, smooth limestone that later hardened.

The research, published in Science Bulletin, was led by a team from institutions such as Cornell and Bournemouth University.

Dr Sally Reynolds, an expert in Hominin Palaeoecology at Bournemouth University says the 'artists' were probably bored children between 7 and 12 years old.

"They couldn't resist the temptation to place their little hands and feet around each other and fill the space. So it has an air of deliberate composition which is why we're arguing that, unlike walking traces or other traces of functional work, this is an artistic, creative endeavour."

(Photo: The handprints as they were seen on the rock. Credit: David Zhang)