These children's footprints in Tibet may be the oldest work of art. But is it really art?

By Tom Metcalfe - NBC

The hand and foot prints allegedly painted by two children some 200,000 years ago could be the oldest work of art in the world, according to research by an international team of geologists and archaeologists.

However, other scientists are skeptical that they were deliberately made or even as old as the analysis suggests. 

But if it is a work of art - even art made by playing - it is more than 100,000 years older than the earliest known cave paintings.

Researchers believe that the hand and foot prints were deliberately made by two children, one in the age of seven and the other in the age of twelve. Zhang et al / Science Bulletin

"The arrangement of the tracks defies any practical explanation, such as walking, or any accidental explanation, such as falling," explained Cornell University archaeologist Thomas Urban, co-author of a study published online Friday in the journal Science Bulletin.

"They appear to have been carefully arranged, which implies that a deliberate choice was made in placing them this way," he adds.

These footprints were found in a rock near the Tibet village of Quesang, about 50 miles northwest of the capital Lhasa, next to a hot spring that is still used to fill public baths.

[A Latino cartoonist uses his art to promote vaccination against COVID-19]

Analyzes suggest they were pressed into a soft limestone called travertine, which was deposited around the hot spring between 169,000 and 226,000 years ago.

Urban said he believes they were made on purpose.

"The footprints would not simply be by-products of some other activity like jumping or running," he said in an email.

"They are a primary product: the engraver made the prints on purpose," he adds.

These hand and foot prints could have been made between 169,000 and 226,000 years ago Cornell University

Researchers have performed a rigorous analysis of the footprints, including an estimate of the age of the rock on which they were imprinted by measuring the levels of uranium isotopes it contained. 

The size of the footprints indicates that they were made by two children, one about 7 years old and the other about 12 years old. 

That dating suggests that they would have belonged to the genus Homo, which includes our own species Homo sapiens.

But it is likely that it was the human species before the Neanderthals - Homo neanderthalensis - or the related group of Denisovans, provisionally classified as Homo denisova.  

Stone in which the footprints were found Zhang et al / Science Bulletin

Urban pointed out that recent genetic studies showed Denisovans had long lived on the Tibetan plateau, but Quesang's hand and footprints - deliberate or not - are the first evidence found there of any Homo species.

"Handprints are relatively rare because there are simply fewer opportunities to leave a handprint during routine activities," he said, "Human hand stencils do appear as rock art in many places, but not as early as at this site. ". 

[Sophia: The artist robot who managed to sell her work at auction for $ 688,888]

The earliest cave paintings date to about 64,800 years ago, and scientists recently announced the discovery of a carved deer bone from 51,000 years ago that appears to be the oldest mobile work of art.