Abstract The distribution of known Pleistocene painted rock art in Island South-east Asia is currently limited to islands on the northern dispersal route to Australia. Here we report the discovery of at least 16 hand stencil motifs in Lene Hara Cave, Timor-Leste; a site on the alternate southern arc route. Superimposition, preservation state, differing ‘canvas’ materials (i.e. painted surfaces), and the location of the stencils in the internal (darker) part of the cave chamber together suggest that they represent an independent artistic phase that pre-dates the Holocene Austronesian Painting Tradition. The stencils are therefore recognised as a chronologically distinct painted rock art tradition, with a Pleistocene age considered most likely. Such findings have important implications for our understandings on the origins and spread of art in south-east Asia.

中文翻译：

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Lene Hara洞穴中的手工模具发现暗示了东帝汶最早的绘画艺术为更新世时代

摘要目前已知的更新世彩绘岩画在东南亚岛屿的分布仅限于北部散布至澳大利亚的岛屿。在这里，我们报告在东帝汶的Lene Hara Cave发现了至少16个手工模具图案。另一条南方弧线上的地点。叠加，保存状态，不同的“画布”材料（即涂漆的表面）以及模具在洞穴室内部（较暗）部分的位置一起表明，它们代表着一个全新的艺术阶段，始于全新世的南洋人画传统。因此，模具被认为是按时间顺序不同的彩绘岩石艺术传统，最有可能是更新世时代。