15 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Oldest found human traces on Roof of the World, Is it art?

Dr. David Zhang and his team’s investigations of Quesang on the Tibetan Plateau in 2018 and 2020 sparked controversy, along with the discovery of potential parietal art.

Dr. David Zhang first found hand and footprints near the hot spring bath in 1988 at the active Quesang Hot Spring near Quesang Village, about 80 km northwest of Lhasa, Tibet. Recent research conducted between 2018 and 2020 resulted in the finding of the possible parietal art.

According to Zhang’s team, whose findings were published in Science Bulletin, the tracks are between 169,000 and 226,000 years old, dating back to the Earth’s last ice age.

The use of hands as molds in cave paintings dates back to about 40,000 years ago in Sulawesi (Indonesia) and El Castillo (Spain).

Researchers believe the impressions may have been made by children aged 7 and 12. The traces were not imprinted during normal locomotion or by the use of hands to stabilize. As a result, researchers argue that deliberate track-making was an early parietal art act.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



As these results researchers point out, what constitutes art is a controversial issue. Even if the traces are not considered art, it is the oldest evidence of the existence of hominins on the Tibetan Plateau, which is called the “Roof of the World”.

Colour rendered 3D model of the parietal art-panel.
Colour rendered 3D model of the parietal art panel.

The team that made the discovery debated whether the find could be a work of art in a joint article they published on ScienceDirect.

The scientists who evaluated the human hand and footprints and the article revealed by Zhang and his team shared the following.

 It is still up for debate whether the impressions on the rock can qualify as the world’s oldest parietal art.

Paul Taçon, a professor of anthropology and archaeology at Griffith University in Australia, believes it might be “a stretch” to call the impressions art.

“The ‘impressions’ reported from Tibet could have resulted from a range of activity and we simply cannot state emphatically that they were made as a purposeful artistic creation,” Taçon told Time.

University of Oxford Professor Nick Barton questioned, “I agree from their patterning that the footprints don’t look like straight-forward tracks but could they be the kinds of traces left behind by kids at play?”

But for Zhang, the debate all boils down to context and the conception of what art is. “When you use stone tools to dig something in the present day, we cannot say that that is technology. But if ancient people use that, that’s technology,” stated Zhang.

Related Articles

The rich-poor distinction draws attention in the nutrition of the inhabitants of the Ancient City of Pergamon

27 November 2021

27 November 2021

The hegemony of wealth to the poor, arising from the ruler, elite structure, property ownership, unjust acquisition, and distribution of...

In Bergama, the City of Greek Gods, the People Kept the Cult of Cybele Alive

25 August 2021

25 August 2021

The figurines of Cybele, the goddess of the fertility of Anatolia, and the presence of sanctuaries unearthed in the Ancient...

An exciting discovery in Hattusa, the capital of the Hittites

11 September 2022

11 September 2022

It is aimed to reach new information about the traditions of the Hittite civilization with 249 new hieroglyphs discovered in...

A 1,700-year-old trident discovered in Assos ancient city in Türkiye

10 October 2023

10 October 2023

An iron trident, believed to be used for fishing, dating to the 3rd or 4th century A.D. has been discovered...

Archaeologists Discover Northernmost Hellenistic Elite Residence Featuring Ionic Architecture and Graffito in North Macedonia

2 July 2025

2 July 2025

In a groundbreaking archaeological campaign, the NL Museum of Kumanovo has unearthed a remarkable Hellenistic-era residence near the village of...

Pharaonic Hieroglyphic Inscription of Ramses III Found in Southern Jordan

20 April 2025

20 April 2025

In a remarkable archaeological breakthrough, a hieroglyphic inscription bearing the royal cartouche of Pharaoh Ramses III (1186–1155 BC) has been...

The identities of the occupants of the unspoiled 4th-century BCE Royal Tombs at Vergina in northern Greece have been identified

26 January 2024

26 January 2024

The identities of the occupants of the unspoiled 4th-century BCE Royal Tombs at Vergina in northern Greece have been identified....

An unexpected shipwreck was unearthed at the Tallinn construction site

18 April 2022

18 April 2022

During the construction of the office building on Lootsi Street in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital on the Baltic Sea, a shipwreck...

The marble head of God Apollo unearthed in an excavation at Philippi, Greece

29 March 2024

29 March 2024

The excavation, carried out by a group of students of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in the archaeological site of...

73 intact Wari mummy bundles and Carved Masks Placed On False Heads Discovered In Peru

1 December 2023

1 December 2023

At Pachacámac, an archaeological site southeast of Lima in Peru, archaeologists unearthed bundles of 73 intact mummy bundles, some containing...

Fossil of a hominid child who died almost 250,000 years ago discovered in South Africa

8 November 2021

8 November 2021

A team of international and South African researchers uncovered the fossil remains of an early hominid kid who died almost...

Mosaics found in Türkiye’s Sinop belong to dining room of a wealthy family

24 June 2023

24 June 2023

The pebble mosaics unearthed during the excavation of a building complex in the province of Sinop on Turkey’s Black Sea...

The earliest Buddha statues in China found in northwestern Shaanxi

10 December 2021

10 December 2021

The two copper-tin-lead alloy Buddha statues discovered in northwestern Shaanxi Province became the earliest Buddha statues of this kind unearthed...

Archaeologists have unearthed part of Hadrian’s Aqueduct, one of the Largest Hydraulic Works of the 2nd century AD, and Extremely Rare Greek Coins

11 January 2024

11 January 2024

Archaeologists have unearthed part of Hadrian’s aqueduct, one of the largest hydraulic works of the 2nd century AD, and a...

Ancient Balkan genomes trace the rise and fall of the Roman Empire’s frontier, reveal Slavic migrations to southeastern Europe

7 January 2024

7 January 2024

The genomic history of the Balkan Peninsula during the first millennium of the common era—a period marked by significant changes...