Cave art 51,200 years old

Cave art 51,000 years old has been identified on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Previously it was dated as 44,000 years old, but a newly developed dating method has been employed. The new date is significant because this makes it the oldest representational art, and also because the images include human figures. Art older than 20,000 years tends not to include human figures, which might indicate they are not yet self-conscious enough to depict themselves. This is akin to theorising that we may realise an AI is conscious when it chooses to include itself in art or literature it produces. Sceptics may point out: that the presence of ‘human’ figures is far from certain; that the dating technique is novel; that widely varying dates, (18.7 to 51.2 thousand years), were determined at spots close to each other; and that stick-men are far from self-portraits. There’s going to be a lot of scrutiny of this study. 
Article: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/indonesia-39-s-51-200-years-old-narrative-cave-art-brin/BgXRnYO53jNZSg?hl=en
​Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07541-7