What roles did primitive drawings play in the older age? What paints did ancient people use?

Anyone endowed with a great gift - feel the beauty the surrounding world, feel harmony lines, admire the variety of shades of colors.

Painting- this is the artist’s perception of the world captured on canvas. If your perception of the world around you is reflected in the artist’s paintings, then you feel a kinship with the works of this master.

The paintings attract attention, fascinate, excite imagination and dreams, evoke memories of pleasant moments, favorite places and landscapes.

When did they appear first images created by man?

Appeal primitive people to a new type of activity for them - art - one of the greatest events in human history. Primitive art reflected man’s first ideas about the world around him, thanks to it knowledge and skills were preserved and passed on, and people communicated with each other. In spiritual culture primitive world art began to play the same universal role that a sharpened stone played in work.

What gave a person the idea to depict certain objects? Who knows whether body painting was the first step towards creating images, or whether a person guessed the familiar silhouette of an animal in a random outline of a stone and, by cutting it, gave it a greater resemblance? Or maybe the shadow of an animal or a person served as the basis for the drawing, and the imprint of a hand or a step precedes the sculpture? There is no definite answer to these questions. Ancient people could come up with the idea of ​​depicting objects not in one, but in many ways.
For example, to the number the most ancient images on the walls of Paleolithic caves include human hand prints, and a random interweaving of wavy lines pressed into the damp clay by the fingers of the same hand.

Works of art from the Early Stone Age, or Paleolithic, are characterized by simplicity of shapes and colors. Rock paintings are usually the outlines of animal figures, made with bright paint - red or yellow, and occasionally - filled with round spots or completely painted over. Such ""paintings"" were clearly visible in the twilight of the caves, illuminated only by torches or the fire of a smoky fire.

In the initial stage of development primitive art didn't know laws of space and perspective, as well as composition, those. intentional distribution of individual figures on a plane, between which there is necessarily a semantic connection.

In living and expressive images stands before us history of the life of primitive man the Stone Age era, told by himself in rock paintings.

Dance. Lleid painting. Spain. With a variety of movements and gestures, a person conveyed his impressions of the world around him, reflecting in them his own feelings, mood and state of mind. Crazy jumps, imitation of animal habits, stamping of feet, expressive hand gesturescreated the preconditions for the emergence of dance. There were also war dances associated with magical rituals, with faith in victory over the enemy.

<<Каменная газета>> Arizona

Composition in the Lascaux cave. France. On the walls of the caves you can see mammoths, wild horses, rhinoceroses, and bison. For primitive man, drawing was the same “witchcraft” as spells and ritual dances. By “conjuring” the spirit of a drawn animal by singing and dancing, and then “killing” it, a person seemed to master the power of the animal and “defeat” it before hunting.

<<Сражающиеся лучники>> Spain

And these are petroglyphs. Hawaii

Murals on the Tassili-Ajer mountain plateau. Algeria.

Primitive people practiced sympathetic magic - in the form of dancing, singing or painting animals on the walls of caves - to attract herds of animals and ensure the continuation of the race and the safety of livestock. Hunters acted out scenes of a successful hunt to attract energy into real world. They turned to the Mistress of the Herds, and later to the Horned God, who was depicted with the antlers of goats or deer to emphasize his primacy over the herds. The bones of animals were supposed to be buried in the ground so that animals, like people, were reborn from the womb of Mother Earth.

This is a cave painting in the Lascaux region of France from the Paleolithic era.

Large animals were the preferred food. And Paleolithic people, skilled hunters, destroyed most of them. And not just large herbivores. During the Paleolithic, cave bears completely disappeared as a species.

There is another type of rock paintings, which has a mystical, mysterious character.

Rock paintings from Australia. Either people, or animals, or maybe both...

Drawings from West Arnhem, Australia.

Huge figures and small people next to them. And in the lower left corner there is generally something incomprehensible.

Here is a masterpiece from Lascaux, France.

North Africa, Sahara. Tassili. 6 thousand years BC Flying saucers and someone in a spacesuit. Or maybe it's not a spacesuit.

Rock art from Australia...

Val Camonica, Italy.

and the next photo is from Azerbaijan, Gobustan region

Gobustan is included in the UNESCO heritage list

Who were those “artists” who were able to convey the message of their time to distant eras? What prompted them to do this? What were the hidden springs and driving motives, which guided them?..Thousands of questions and very few answers...Many of our contemporaries love it when they are asked to look at history through a magnifying glass.

But is everything really so small in it?

After all, there were images of gods

In the north of Upper Egypt is ancient city temples of Abydos. Its origin dates back to prehistoric times. It is known that already in the era Old Kingdom(about 2500 BC) in Abydos, the universal deity Osiris was widely worshiped. Osiris was considered a divine teacher who gave the people of the Stone Age a variety of knowledge and crafts, and, quite possibly, knowledge about the secrets of heaven. By the way, it was in Abydos that it was found ancient calendar, dating back to the 4th millennium BC. e.

Ancient Greece And Ancient Rome also left a lot of rock evidence reminding us of their existence. They already had a developed written language - their drawings are much more interesting, from the point of view of studying everyday life, than ancient graffiti.

Why is humanity trying to find out what happened millions of years ago, what knowledge did ancient civilizations have? We look for the source because we think that by revealing it, we will find out why we exist. Humanity wants to find where that one is starting point the reference point from which it all began, because he thinks that, apparently, there is an answer, “what is all this for,” and what will happen in the end...

After all, the world is so vast, and the human brain is narrow and limited. The most complex crossword of history must be solved gradually, cell by cell...

Speleologists around the world find cave drawings the oldest people in all corners globe. The rock paintings have been perfectly preserved to this day, although they were drawn many thousands of years ago. There are several types of such art, which are periodically included in the World Heritage List.

As a rule, ancient people painted the walls of caves with the same type of scenes - he depicted hunting, human hands, various battles, the sun and animals. Our ancestors attached special significance to these drawings and invested them with sacred meaning.

These paintings were created using in various ways and materials. Ocher, animal blood and chalk were used for drawing. And hewn pictures were created on stone using a special cutter.

We invite you to take a mini-tour to mysterious world with rock paintings created by ancient man BC.

Magura Cave, Bulgaria

Prehistoric pictures were found in the Bulgarian Magura cave, near Sofia, which amazes with its uniqueness and length. Underworld stretches for two kilometers, and the halls of the cave are enormous: its width is 50 m and its height is 20 m.

Discovered rock painting created using guano bats. The pictures were painted in many layers over several periods: Paleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. The drawings depict figures of ancient people and animals.

Here you can also find a painted sun and various tools.

Cueva de las Manos cave, Argentina

In Argentina there is another ancient cave with big amount rock paintings. Translated, it sounds like “Cave of Many Hands,” since it is dominated by the handprints of our ancestors. The rock painting is located in big hall 24 m wide and 10 m long. The approximate date of painting is 13-9 millennium BC.

Numerous hand marks are imprinted on the voluminous limestone canvas. Scientists have put forward their own version of the appearance of such clear prints - ancient people put a special composition in their mouths, and then blew through a tube onto their hand, which they placed against the wall of the cave.

There are also images of people, animals and geometric shapes.

Bhimbetka cliff dwellings, India

Many caves with rock paintings have been discovered in India. One of them is located in north-central India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Locals They gave this name to the cave in honor of the hero of the epic Mahabharata. The paintings of the ancient Indians date back to the Mesolithic era.

Here you can see both worn out, dim images and very colorful and interesting drawings. Basically, various battles and ornaments are depicted here.

Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil

In the Brazilian Serra da Capivara National Park there is a cave of ancient people, the walls of which have preserved drawings that were drawn 50 thousand years ago.

Scientists have discovered about 300 different works of art and architectural monuments here. The cave is dominated by drawings of animals and other representatives of the Paleolithic era.

Laas Gaal cave complex, Somaliland

In the African republic of Somaliland, archaeologists discovered the Laas Gaal cave complex, on the walls of which there are pictures from the 8th-9th and 3rd millennium BC. Ancient settlers depicted here a variety of everyday and life scenes: grazing, various rituals and games.

Contemporaries who live here are not particularly interested in this rock art. And in caves, as a rule, they only provide shelter from the rain. A large number of drawings have not yet been studied and archaeologists continue to study them.

Rock art of Tadrart-Akakus, Libya

There is a hall of Oxen and a palace hall of Cats. Unfortunately, in 1998, these masterpieces of painting were almost ruined by mold. Therefore, to avoid this, the cave was closed in 2008.

A person's desire to capture the world, events that inspire fear, hope to be successful in hunting, life, struggle with other tribes, nature, demonstrated in drawings. They are found all over the world from South America to Siberia. The rock art of primitive people is also called cave art, since mountain, underground shelters were often used by them as shelters, reliably sheltering them from bad weather and predators. In Russia they are called “pisanitsa”. Scientific name drawings - petroglyphs. After discovery, scientists sometimes paint them over for better visibility and preservation.

Rock Art Themes

Drawings carved on the walls of caves, open, vertical surfaces of rocks, free-standing stones, drawn with coal from a fire, chalk, mineral or plant substances, essentially represent objects of art - engravings, paintings of ancient people. They usually depict:

1. Figures of large animals (mammoths, elephants, bulls, deer, bison), birds, fish, which were coveted prey, as well as dangerous predators - bears, lions, wolves, crocodiles.
2. Scenes of hunting, dancing, sacrifices, war, boating, fishing.
3. Images of pregnant women, leaders, shamans in ritual clothes, spirits, deities, etc. mythical creatures, sometimes attributed by sensationalists to aliens.

These paintings have given scientists a lot to understand the history of the development of society, the animal world, and changes in the Earth’s climate over thousands of years, because the early petroglyphs date back to the late Paleolithic, Neolithic eras, and the later ones to the Bronze Age. For example, this is how the periods of domestication of the buffalo, wild bull, horse, and camel in the history of the use of animals by humans were determined. Unexpected discoveries included confirmation of the existence of bison in Spain, woolly rhinoceroses in Siberia, and prehistoric animals on the great plain, which today represents a huge desert - the Central Sahara.

History of discovery

This discovery is often attributed to the Spanish amateur archaeologist Marcelino de Sautuole, who found in late XIX centuries of magnificent paintings in the Altamira cave in his homeland. There rock painting, applied with charcoal and ocher, available to primitive people, was so good that it was long considered a fake and a hoax.

In fact, by that time such drawings had long been known throughout the world, with the exception of Antarctica. Thus, rock paintings along the banks of Siberian rivers, Far East known since the 17th century and described by famous travelers: scientists Spafari, Stallenberg, Miller. Therefore, the discovery in the Altamira cave and the subsequent hype is just an example of successful, albeit unintentional, propaganda in the scientific world.

Famous drawings

Art galleries, “photo exhibitions” of ancient people, amazing with their plot, variety, and quality of detail:

1. Magura Cave (Bulgaria). Animals, hunters, ritual dances are depicted.
2. Cueva de las Manos (Argentina). The “Cave of Hands” depicts the left hands of the ancient inhabitants of this place, hunting scenes, painted in red, white and black.
3. Bhimbetka (India). People, horses, crocodiles, tigers and lions “mixed” here.
4. Serra da Capivara (Brazil). Many caves depict hunting and scenes of rituals. The oldest drawings are at least 25 thousand years old.
5. Laas Gaal (Somalia) – cows, dogs, giraffes, people in ceremonial clothes.
6. Chauvet Cave (France). Opened in 1994. The age of some of the drawings, including mammoths, lions, and rhinoceroses, is about 32 thousand years.
7. Kakadu National Park (Australia) with images made by the ancient Aborigines of the mainland.
8. Newspaper Rock (USA, Utah). Native American heritage, with an unusually high concentration of paintings on a flat rocky cliff.

Rock art in Russia has a geography from the White Sea to the banks of the Amur and Ussuri. Here are a few of them:

1. White Sea petroglyphs (Karelia). More than 2 thousand drawings - hunting, battles, ritual processions, people on skis.
2. Shishkinsky writings on rocks in the upper reaches of the Lena River (Irkutsk region). More than 3 thousand different drawings were described in the middle of the 20th century by Academician Okladnikov. A convenient path leads to them. Although climbing there is prohibited, this does not stop those who want to see the drawings up close.
3. Petroglyphs of Sikachi-Alyan ( Khabarovsk region). At this place there was an ancient camp of the Nanais. The drawings show scenes of fishing, hunting, and shamanic masks.

It must be said that the rock paintings of primitive people in different places differ significantly in preservation, plot scenes, and quality of execution by ancient authors. But to see them at least, and if you’re lucky in reality, is like looking into the distant past.

Rock art Horseshoe Canyon, Utah, USA.

Similar ancient historical monuments are not concentrated somewhere in one place, but scattered throughout the planet. Petroglyphs were not found at the same time; sometimes the discoveries of different drawings are separated by significant periods of time.

From time to time, on the same rocks, scientists find drawings from different millennia. There are similarities between a variety of rock paintings, so it seems as if in ancient times there was a single ancestral culture and universal knowledge associated with it. Thus, many of the figures in the drawings have the same features, although their authors knew nothing about each other - they were separated by an enormous distance and time. However, the similarity in the images is systematic: in particular, the heads of the gods always emit light. Although cave drawings have been studied for about 200 years, they still remain a mystery.

It is believed that the first images of mysterious creatures were rock paintings on Mount Hunan, China (picture above). They are about 47,000 years old. These drawings supposedly depict early contacts with unknown creatures, perhaps guests from extraterrestrial civilizations.

These drawings were found in the Sera Da Capivara National Park in Brazil. Experts claim that the paintings were created about twenty-nine thousand years ago:

Interesting cave paintings dating back over 10,000 years were recently discovered in the state of Chhattisgarh, India:

This cave painting dates back to approximately 10,000 BC and is located in Val Camonica, Italy. The drawn figures look like two creatures wearing protective suits, and their heads emit light. They hold strange devices in their hands:

As following example You can cite a rock carving of a luminous man, which is located 18 km west of the city of Navoi (Uzbekistan). At the same time, a shining figure sits on a throne, and the figures standing near it wear something similar to protective masks on their faces. The kneeling man in the lower part of the picture does not have such a device - he is at a considerable distance from the luminous figure and, apparently, does not need such protection.

Tassil-Adjer (River Plateau) - the largest monument rock art Sugars. The plateau is located in the southeastern part of Algeria. The oldest petroglyphs of Tassil-Adjer date back to the 7th millennium BC. And the latest - the 7th century AD. Drawings on the plateau were first noticed in 1909:

An image dating to approximately 600 BC, from Tassilin-Adjer. The drawing shows a creature with different eyes, a strange petal hairstyle and a shapeless figure. More than a hundred similar “gods” were found in caves:

These frescoes, found in the Sahara Desert, depict a humanoid creature in a spacesuit. Frescoes are 5 thousand years old:

Australia is isolated from other continents. However, on the Kimberley Plateau (northwest Australia) there are entire galleries of petroglyphs. And here all the same motifs are present: gods with similar faces and with a halo of rays around their heads. The drawings were first discovered in 1891:

These are images of Vandina, the goddess of the sky, in a halo of shining rays.

Rock art at Puerta del Canyon, Argentina:

Sego Canyon, Utah, USA. The most ancient petroglyphs appeared here more than 8,000 years ago:

"Skala-newspaper" there, in Utah:

"Alien", Arizona, USA:

California, USA:

Alien image. Kalbak-Tash, Altai, Russia:

"Sun Man" from the Karakol Valley, Altai:

Another of the many petroglyphs of the Italian Val Camonica valley in the Southern Alps:

Rock paintings of Gobustan, Azerbaijan. Scientists date the oldest drawings to the Mesolithic era (about 10 thousand years ago:

Ancient rock paintings in Niger:

Onega petroglyphs at Cape Besov Nos, Russia. The most famous of the Onega petroglyphs is Bes, its length is two and a half meters. The image is crossed by a deep crack, dividing it exactly into two halves. A “gap” into another, otherworldly world. Within a kilometer radius of Bes, satellite navigation often fails. The clock also behaves unpredictably: it can run forward, it can stop. Scientists can only guess what this anomaly is connected with. The ancient figure is cut by an Orthodox cross. Most likely, it was hollowed out on top of the demonic image by the monks of the Murom Monastery in the 15th–16th centuries. To neutralize the devil's power:

Petroglyphs of Tamgaly, Kazakhstan. Rock paintings abound in a variety of subjects, and the most common of them depict divine sun-headed creatures:

White Shaman Rock in the Lower Canyon, Texas. According to experts, the age of this seven-meter image is more than four thousand years. The White Shaman is believed to be hiding the secrets of an ancient vanished cult:

Rock paintings of giant people from South Africa:

Mexico. Veracruz, Las Palmas: cave paintings depicting creatures in spacesuits:

Rock paintings in the valley of the Pegtymel River, Chukotka, Russia:

The twin gods fight with battle axes. One of the petroglyphs found in Tanumschede, western Sweden (the drawings are painted red in the modern period):

Among the petroglyphs on the Litsleby rock massif, a giant (2.3 m tall) image of a god with a spear (possibly Odin) dominates:

Sarmysh-say gorge, Uzbekistan. Numerous ancient rock paintings of people in strange clothes were found in the gorge, some of which can be interpreted as images of “ancient astronauts”:

Rock paintings of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, USA, depicting certain creatures - kachina. The Hopi considered these mysterious kachinas to be their heavenly teachers:

In addition, there are many ancient rock carvings solar symbols, or some objects resembling aircraft.

Rock paintings of San Antonio Cave, Texas, USA.

This ancient rock art discovered in Australia depicts what looks like a ship. space aliens. At the same time, the image may well mean something quite understandable.

Something resembling a rocket taking off. Kalbysh Tash, Altai.

Petroglyph depicting a UFO. Bolivia.

UFO from a cave in Chhattisgarh, India

Petroglyphs of Lake Onega depict cosmic, solar and moon signs: circles and semicircles with outgoing lines-rays, in which modern man both the radar and the spacesuit will clearly see. Moreover - TV.

Rock art, Arizona, USA

Petroglyphs of Panama

California, USA

Guanche rock paintings, Canary Islands

Ancient images of the mystical symbol of the spiral are found throughout the world. These cave paintings were once created by Indians in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA.

Rock art, Nevada, USA

One of the drawings discovered in a cave on the island of Youth, off the coast of Cuba. In it one can find great similarities with the structure solar system, where there is an image of eight planets with their largest satellites.

These petroglyphs are located in Pakistan, in the Indus River Valley:

Once upon a time, a highly developed Indian civilization existed in these places. It was from her that these ancient images carved on stones remained. Take a closer look - don't you think these are mysterious vimanas - flying chariots from ancient Indian myths?

Around the world, speleologists deep caves find confirmation of the existence of ancient people. Rock paintings have been perfectly preserved for many millennia. There are several types of masterpieces - pictograms, petroglyphs, geoglyphs. Important monuments of human history are regularly included in the World Heritage Register.

Usually on the walls of caves there are common subjects, such as hunting, battle, images of the sun, animals, human hands. People in ancient times attached sacred meaning to paintings; they believed that they were helping themselves in the future.

Images were applied various methods and materials. For artistic creativity animal blood, ocher, chalk and even bat guano were used. A special type of painting is ashlar painting; they were carved into stone using a special chisel.

Many caves have not been sufficiently studied and are limited in visiting, while others, on the contrary, are open to tourists. However, most of the precious cultural heritage disappears unattended, unable to find her researchers.

Below is a short excursion into the world of the most interesting caves with prehistoric rock paintings.

Magura Cave, Bulgaria

It is famous not only for the hospitality of its residents and the indescribable flavor of the resorts, but also for its caves. One of them, with the sonorous name Magura, is located north of Sofia, near the town of Belogradchik. The total length of the cave galleries is more than two kilometers. The cave halls are colossal in size, each of them is about 50 meters wide and 20 meters high. The pearl of the cave is a rock painting made directly on the surface covered with bat guano. The paintings are multi-layered; there are a number of paintings from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic and Bronze Age periods. The drawings of ancient homo sapiens depict figures of dancing villagers, hunters, many strange animals, and constellations. The sun, plants, and tools are also represented. Here begins the story of the festivities ancient era and about the solar calendar, scientists assure.

Cueva de las Manos Cave, Argentina

The cave with the poetic name Cueva de las Manos (from Spanish - “Cave of Many Hands”) is located in the province of Santa Cruz, exactly one hundred miles from the nearest settlement- the city of Perito Moreno. The rock painting art in the 24 meter long and 10 meter high hall dates back to the 13th to 9th millennia BC. Amazing picture on limestone it is a three-dimensional canvas decorated with traces of hands. Scientists have built a theory about how the amazingly clear and clear handprints turned out. Prehistoric people they took a special composition, then put it in the mouth, and blew it forcefully through a tube onto a hand attached to the wall. In addition, there are stylized images of humans, rheas, guanacos, cats, geometric figures with ornaments, the process of hunting and observations of the sun.

Bhimbetka cliff dwellings, India

Enchanting offers tourists not only the delights of oriental palaces and charming dances. In north central India there are huge rock formations of weathered sandstone with many caves. Ancient people once lived in natural shelters. About 500 dwellings with traces of human habitation remain in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Indians named the rock dwellings Bhimbetka (after the hero of the Mahabharata epic). The art of the ancients here dates back to the Mesolithic era. Some of the paintings are insignificant, and some of the hundreds of images are very typical and striking. 15 rock masterpieces are available for contemplation by those who wish. Mainly, patterned ornaments and battle scenes are depicted here.

Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil

Both rare animals and venerable scientists find shelter in the Serra da Capivara National Park. And 50 thousand years ago, our distant ancestors found shelter here in caves. Presumably, this is the oldest community of hominids in South America. The park is located near the town of San Raimondo Nonato, in the central part of the state of Piaui. Experts counted more than 300 here archaeological sites. The main surviving images date back to 25-22 millennium BC. The most amazing thing is that extinct bears and other paleofauna are painted on the rocks.

Laas Gaal cave complex, Somaliland

The Republic of Somaliland recently separated from Somalia in Africa. Archaeologists in this area are interested in the Laas Gaal cave complex. Presented here rock paintings times 8-9 and 3 millennium BC. Scenes of life and everyday life are depicted on the granite walls of majestic natural shelters nomadic people Africa: the process of grazing livestock, ceremonies, playing with dogs. The local population does not attach importance to the drawings of their ancestors, and uses the caves, as in the old days, for shelter during the rain. Many of the studies have not been properly studied. In particular, problems arise with the chronological reference of masterpieces of Arab-Ethiopian ancient rock paintings.

Rock art of Tadrart Acacus, Libya

Not far from Somalia, in Libya, there are also rock paintings. They are much earlier, dating back almost to the 12th millennium BC. The last of them were applied after the birth of Christ, in the first century. It is interesting to observe, following the drawings, how the fauna and flora changed in this area of ​​the Sahara. First we see elephants, rhinoceroses and fauna typical of a rather humid climate. Also interesting is the clearly visible change in the lifestyle of the population - from hunting to sedentary cattle breeding, then to nomadism. To get to Tadrart Akakus, you need to cross the desert east of the city of Ghat.

Chauvet Cave, France

In 1994, while walking, by chance, Jean-Marie Chauvet discovered the cave that later became famous. She was named after the speleologist. In the Chauvet Cave, in addition to traces of the life activity of ancient people, hundreds of wonderful frescoes were discovered. The most amazing and beautiful of them depict mammoths. In 1995, the cave became a state monument, and in 1997, 24-hour surveillance was introduced here to prevent damage to the magnificent heritage. Today, in order to take a look at the incomparable rock art of the Cro-Magnons, you need to obtain special permission. In addition to mammoths, there is something to admire; here on the walls there are handprints and fingerprints of representatives of the Aurignacian culture (34-32 thousand years BC)

Kakadu National Park, Australia

In fact, the famous Cockatoo parrot is the name of the Australian national park it does not matter. The Europeans simply mispronounced the name of the Gaagudju tribe. This nation is now extinct, and there is no one to correct the ignorant. The park is home to Aboriginal people who have not changed their way of life since the Stone Age. For thousands of years, Indigenous Australians have been involved in rock painting. Pictures were painted here already 40 thousand years ago. In addition to religious scenes and hunting, there are stylized stories in drawings about useful skills (educational) and magic (entertaining). Among the animals depicted are the extinct marsupial tigers, catfish, and barramundi. All the wonders of the Arnhem Land plateau, Colpignac and the southern hills are located 171 km from the city of Darwin. in the 35th millennium BC, it was the early Paleolithic. They left strange rock paintings in the Altamira cave. Art artifacts on the walls of the huge cave date back to both the 18th and 13th millennia. IN last period Interesting are the polychrome figures, the unique combination of engraving and painting, and the acquisition of realistic details. The famous bison, deer and horses, or rather, their beautiful images on the walls of Altamira, often end up in textbooks for middle school students. The Altamira Cave is located in the Cantabria region.

Lascaux Cave, France

Lascaux is not just a cave, but a whole complex of small and large cave halls located in the south of France. Not far from the caves is the legendary village of Montignac. The paintings on the cave walls were painted 17 thousand years ago. And to this day they amaze with their amazing forms, akin to contemporary art graffiti. Scholars especially value the Hall of the Bulls and the Palace Hall of the Cats. It’s easy to guess what prehistoric creators left there. In 1998, the rock masterpieces were almost destroyed by mold caused by an improperly installed air conditioning system. And in 2008, Lascaux was closed to preserve more than 2,000 unique drawings.