The world’s oldest cave paintings in Indonesia under threat of wildfires

MAROS-PANGKEP, Indonesia, Oct 23 (Reuters) The world s oldest cave paintings on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are under threat as heat and smoke from the country s worst wildfires in more than a decade risk accelerating ​the deterioration of the more than 67,000-year-old works of art, researchers said. Indonesia ‌is battling its most intense forest and land fires since 2015 as a severe El Niño drives up temperatures and reduces rainfall, leaving its forest and peatland vulnerable to fire. While the islands of Sumatra and Borneo are the worst affected by the disaster, fires have ‌also ​spread on the island of Sulawesi, including in South Sulawesi ⁠where limestone caves house the ⁠world s oldest prehistoric art. 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 stenci