This Ancient Man's Piercing Hazel Eyes Drew Almost $1 Million in 'Mummy Portrait' Auction

Mummy Portrait of a Man from Roman Egypt Flavian Period, circa late 1st century A.D. – Courtesy Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s recently sold a painting of a man from Roman-controlled Egypt in the first century CE that experts suggest represents the dawn of realistic portraiture 1,200 years before it appeared in Italy.

The image is part of a family of works known collectively as the Fayum Mummy Portraits, all of which were found during 19th century excavations at a site called Hawara in Egypt’s Fayum region.

The portraits were placed atop mummified remains like masks, and were painted with pigment mixed with melted beeswax on wooden panels. Over 900 have been found, and some have been auctioned.

This portrait of a dark-skinned senior with graying hair, piercing hazel eyes, and a large lower lip recently brought in $889,000 with fees. Though they were painted and entombed in Egypt, the subjects could be Romans, whose nobility could afford both mummification and portrait commissions.

The nose might give the man up as a Roman; the substantial bridge being a feature of the Italian race still today. Others are perhaps less obvious.

What unquestionably stands out is the true air of realism in the work—one gets the feeling all at once that the man truly appeared as he is portrayed.

“It invites you to want to know more about him and to feel his presence,” said Alexandra Olsman, a Sotheby’s specialist in ancient sculpture and works of art.

Roman domination of Egypt came only after Macedonian domination of Egypt under the Ptolemaic dynasty. Whatever skin/eye color and features the ancient Egyptian race had, the population in the major cities would have long been altered by intermarrying with northern Mediterraneans.

It’s not known whether the sitters were painted in death or life, or some state in between of infirmity. Olsman told CNN that with the sincere connection through the eyes, it would seem unlikely to be the artist’s interpretation of a dead man.Sotheby’s has sold over a dozen Fayum mummy paintings over the years, and this one along with another featuring a curly-headed, younger man, commanded the highest bids. This Ancient Man's Piercing Hazel Eyes Drew Almost $1 Million in 'Mummy Portrait' Auction

Read More........→February 13, 2026

At 67,800-years-old, These Handprints Just Discovered in Indonesia Are Oldest Example of Rock Art

– credit, Aubert, Brumm, et al.

The discovery of stylized handprints dating back at least 67,800 years in a limestone cave in Indonesia has broken the country’s own record for the world’s oldest-known example of rock art.

It provides direct evidence that humans have been crossing the sea intentionally for nearly 70,000 years, as Man traveled from the Asian continent across Australasia to the land Down Under and beyond.

Adhi Agus Oktaviana, a researcher at the BRIN Research Center for Archaeometry, revealed that the minimum age of the rock art is 16,600 years older than the previously discovered rock art from Muna Island, which GNN reported on in 2024.

This rock art is also 1,100 years older than the handprints from Spain that were previously associated with Neanderthals and had long been considered the oldest cave art in the world, and 22,200 years older than the depiction of the Sulawesi warty pig, discovered on the same island as the other two, in 2021.

In other words, in the last five years, 3 of the 4 oldest cave artworks ever found on Earth were identified on the same small island off Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Oktaviana explained that to determine the age of this rock art, the research team applied the laser-ablation uranium-series (LA-U-series) dating technique to the microscopic calcite layer covering the cave paintings and produced a date that would be the earliest possible production time of the handprints.

– credit, Maxime Aubert

As news releases that regarded the previous two discoveries stated, the artworks elevate Indonesia to one of the most important centers in the early history of symbolic art and modern human sea exploration in the world.

This discovery confirms that Wallacea, a sunken landmass that exists above sea level today as the Indo-Pacific, was not only a route to Australia, but also a major habitat for early modern humans. It also reinforces the long chronological model, which states that humans reached the Sahul landmass (Australia–Papua) at least 65,000 years ago.

“It is very likely that the creators of these paintings were part of a population that later spread further east and eventually reached Australia,” said Oktaviana. “This research provides the oldest direct evidence of modern humans on the northern migration route to Sahul, which involved sea exploration between Kalimantan (Borneo) and Papua—an area that remains relatively unexplored archaeologically.”

Meanwhile, Professor Adam Brumm from the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Griffith University, said that the handprints found in the rock art on Muna Island also have globally unique characteristics, with modifications that narrow the shape of the fingers to resemble claws, reflecting a mature symbolic expression. According to him, the symbolic meaning of this narrowing of the finger shape is still speculative.

“However, this art could symbolize the idea that humans and animals have a very close relationship. This is already evident in the earliest paintings in Sulawesi, including at least one scene that we interpret as a representation of a half-human, half-animal creature,” he explained.With the discovery of Pleistocene rock art sites in the karst region of Sulawesi, this brings a great responsibility in preserving irreplaceable cultural heritage. Therefore, researchers are calling for the protection of karst areas containing ancient rock art sites to be an integral part of spatial planning and natural resource management policies. At 67,800-years-old, These Handprints Just Discovered in Indonesia Are Oldest Example of Rock Art

Read More........→February 06, 2026