Researchers from Indonesia and Australia say they have found the world's earliest known cave art, depicting human-like figures hunting animals. They discovered the paintings on Sulawesi, an island of Indonesia, according a paper published in the scientific journal, Nature.

The painting, found in 2017, was dated as early as 44,000 years ago, using uranium-series analysis.

According to Reuters, the scene shows eight 'therianthropes,' humans with animal characteristics, appearing to chase and kill six animals, using what appears to be spears and rope.

Until this discovery, the oldest rock art showing characters resembling animals was an ivory sculpture found in Germany, thought to be 40,000 years old.

One of the study's co-authors, Adam Brumm of Australia's Griffith University, said the Indonesian cave paintings also provide some of the earliest evidence of human spirituality.

"'Therianthropes' occur in the folklore or narrative fiction of almost every modern society and they are perceived as gods, spirits, or ancestral beings in many religions worldwide," Brumm said.