September 12, 1940 Four French teenagers accidentally stumbled upon a narrow hole created by the fall of a pine tree, which was struck by lightning. They decided that this was the exit from an underground passage leading to the nearby ruins of a castle, and hoped to find treasure there. But when they got inside and saw huge drawings on the walls, they realized that this was not just an underground passage, and reported their discovery to the teacher. This is how the Lascaux cave was discovered. 
All the walls of the cave were completely covered with amazing drawings of animals - bulls, bison, rhinoceroses, horses, deer, even a unicorn, drawn with ocher, soot and marl (a rock like clay) and outlined in dark outlines. Some of the drawings were V life size
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The scientist A. Breuil spent several months in this cave, making all kinds of measurements and studying primitive painting. At first, art historians doubted the authenticity of the drawings, but a thorough examination rejected all suspicions of forgery, and the age of the images was estimated at 15 thousand years.
Very soon, many tourists began to come to the Lascaux cave and soon scientists noticed that the drawings were slowly beginning to collapse. This was due to the excess carbon dioxide exhaled by people visiting the caves. Soon tourists were no longer allowed into the Lascaux cave and it was mothballed, and a copy of it was created next to it - Lascaux II. It is a concrete structure, inside of which they have accurately reproduced rock paintings selected parts of Lascaux.
Osya and I really liked that on the official website you can make virtual trip through the cave. In some places you can stop, zoom in on the drawing, look at it and read about it small text(there is no Russian language on the site, but there is English). Here is the website: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/02_00.xml
The figures of animals are drawn mainly in profile, in motion. It is interesting that when several animals accumulate in one scene at once, different sizes and different colors, and at the same time drawn so that one figure overlaps another, then the feeling of a cartoon is created if you move the window on the site. Probably, the same effect will happen if you move next to these drawings with a flashlight in your hands, it’s a pity that we can’t check it :)
On the walls of the cave there is only one image of a person: here you can see four figures combined into one compositional space - a bison pierced by a spear, a lying man, a small bird and a fuzzy silhouette of a retreating rhinoceros. The bison stands in profile, but its head is turned towards the viewer. The person is depicted schematically, as in children's drawings. Everything is drawn with a thick black line and is not filled with color. Scientists are still arguing about what exactly is shown in this picture: did the bison kill the man, and did the horse inflict a mortal wound on the bison? Or is it the other way around?
I showed Osya this picture and told him that the paints were mineral back then. The black paint was based on manganese, and the red paint was based on iron oxide. Pieces of minerals were ground into powder on stone slabs or on animal bones, for example, on the shoulder blade of a bison. This colored powder was stored in hollowed out bones or leather bags that were worn on the belt.
In this picture you can see the image of a huge bull. The figure of the right bull is the largest rock art in the world, its length is 5.2 meters.
To make it clearer what five meters is, we measured this distance in the apartment and estimated how huge the bull was.
Interestingly, in the Lascaux cave there is an image of a mythical animal - a unicorn:
But this big black bull, 3.71 meters long, is interesting because it was painted with paint sprayed through a special tube:
What you can do if your child is interested in these drawings:
- you can take craft paper, crumple it properly (we didn’t figure it out right away, but when we came across a crumpled piece of wrapping paper, Osya himself noticed that it turned out more textured and the surface resembled the surface of a stone) and hang it on the wall to draw memorable memories on it figures in charcoal, sanguine or multi-colored pastels. Or you can use paints if the child doesn’t want to get his hands dirty. The main thing is not to forget to cover the floor around it.
Is it possible to do natural paints- from clay and berries, and paint animals with them. And then make an outline separately with charcoal.
You can also try painting with homemade brushes. Offer your child a small stick, some grass/flower stems, and some string. Will he guess what can be done with them? And if you cut off the top layer of a dishwashing sponge, you can play that it is an animal skin that ancient people used to paint over large area drawing. Shall we try?
To draw pictures, you can simply sit on a table or on the floor, or you can imagine that we are in a cave and draw on its walls and arches. Once, when we were playing at primitive people, we covered the area under the table with paper, and Osya left rock carvings while lying on his back.
This time we hung the drawings under the desk, then Osya blocked the entrance to the “cave” with pillows from the sofa, and we played as if we ourselves were walking and unexpectedly found such a treasure - a cave with ancient rock paintings. In the evening, when it was already dark, we turned off the light and climbed into the cave with flashlights and candles and looked at the images on the walls.
Speleologists around the world find cave drawings ancient 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 caves 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 art 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 pictures from the 8th-9th and 3rd millennium BC were preserved. 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. 
Ancient rock paintings (petroglyphs) are found all over the world and have one common feature, they describe animals, including those that are no longer found on earth today. Many of these drawings were so well preserved that at first glance experts considered them to be fakes. However, after careful examination, the images were found to be genuine. Below is a list of ten well-preserved prehistoric cave paintings.
Chauvet Cave
A cave located near the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the Ardèche River valley in southern France. Contains the earliest known and best-preserved rock art in the world, dating from the Aurignacian era (36 thousand years ago). The cave was discovered on December 18, 1994 by three speleologists - Eliette Brunel, Christian Hillaire and Jean-Marie Chauvet. The paintings in the cave depict various animals ice age.
Magura Cave
Magura is a cave located near the village of Rabisha in Vidin region, Bulgaria. In the cave, bones of a cave bear, a cave hyena and other animals were found. And on its walls you can see drawings from different historical periods. They mainly depict female figures, hunters, animals, plants, sun and stars.
The find includes about 5,000 paintings made by Aboriginal people on rocks in Kakadu National Park, Australia. Most of the paintings were created about 2000 years ago. Interestingly, they depict not only animals such as white sea bass, catfish, kangaroo, rock couscous and others, but also their bones (skeletons).
Tadrart-Akakus
Tadrart-Akakus is a mountain range in the Ghat Desert in western Libya, part of the Sahara. The massif is famous for its prehistoric rock art, which spans the period 12,000 BC. e. - 100 AD e. and reflects cultural and natural changes in the area. The drawings depict animals such as giraffes, elephants, ostriches, camels and horses, as well as people in various situations Everyday life, for example, dancing and playing musical instruments.
Serra da Capivara - national park, located in the northeastern part of Brazil in the east of the state of Piaui. The park contains many caves containing examples of prehistoric art. The drawings, in great detail, depict animals and trees, as well as scenes from hunting. A famous site of the park, Pedra Furada contains the oldest remains human activity on the continent, which significantly changed the idea of the settlement of America. In order to preserve numerous prehistoric exhibits and drawings, the Brazilian government created this national park.
The Lascaux Cave is located in southwest France and is famous for its cave paintings dating back to the Paleolithic period. The cave contains about 2,000 drawings, which can be grouped into three main categories: animals, human figures and abstract signs. The cave is one of the places on the planet where you will not be allowed.
Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site consisting of over 600 rock shelters located in Raisen district, Madhya Pradesh, India. These shelters contain the earliest traces of human activity in India; according to archaeologists, some of them could have been inhabited more than 100 thousand years ago. Most of the designs are made in red and white colors and depict animals such as crocodiles, lions, tigers and others.
Laas Gaal
Laas Gaal is a cave complex located on the outskirts of the city of Hargeisa in Somalia. Known for its well-preserved rock art. The drawings date back to the ninth - third millennia BC. e. and depict mainly cows, people, giraffes, wolves or dogs.
The Altamira Cave is located near the town of Santillana del Mar, Cantabria in Spain. It was accidentally discovered in 1879 by amateur archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola. This great archaeological discovery is famous for its ancient cave paintings from the Upper Paleolithic era (35 - 12 thousand years ago), which depict bison, horses, wild boars, human handprints and more.
Cueva de las Manos
Cueva de las Manos is a cave located in southern Argentina, in the province of Santa Cruz, in the valley of the Pinturas River. Known for archaeological and paleontological finds. First of all, these are cave paintings depicting human hands, the oldest of which date back to the ninth millennium BC. e. The left hands of teenage boys are depicted on the walls of the cave. This fact suggested that these images were part of ancient rite. In addition to hands, on the walls of the cave there are depictions of guanacos, rheas, cats and other animals, as well as scenes of hunting them.
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About ancient rock paintings.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.
Ancient rock paintings.
Bulgaria is famous not only for the hospitality of its residents and the indescribable flavor of its 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 halls of the cave 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.
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 palm prints 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.
Enchanting India 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 epic Mahabharata). 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.
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.
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.
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 reach Tadrart Akakus, you need to cross the desert east of the city of Ghat.
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)
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.
It turns out that the first homo sapiens reached Spain in the 35th millennium BC, this 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 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 they still amaze with their amazing forms, akin to modern graffiti art. 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.
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Discovery of caves art galleries raised a number of questions for archaeologists: what did the primitive artist draw with, how did he draw, where did he place the drawings, what did he draw and, finally, why did he do it? The study of caves allows us to answer them with varying degrees of certainty.Palette primitive man was poor: it has four main colors - black, white, red and yellow. To obtain white images, chalk and chalk-like limestones were used; black - charcoal and manganese oxides; red and yellow - minerals hematite (Fe2O3), pyrolusite (MnO2) and natural dyes - ocher, which is a mixture of iron hydroxides (limonite, Fe2O3.H2O), manganese (psilomelane, m.MnO.MnO2.nH2O) and clay particles. Stone slabs on which ocher was ground, as well as pieces of dark red manganese dioxide, were found in caves and grottoes in France. Judging by the painting technique, pieces of paint were ground and mixed with bone marrow, animal fat or blood. Chemical and X-ray diffraction analysis of paints from the Lascaux cave showed that not only natural dyes were used, mixtures of which give different shades primary colors, but also rather complex compounds obtained by firing them and adding other components (kaolinite and aluminum oxides).
Serious study of cave dyes is just beginning. And questions immediately arise: why were only inorganic paints used? The primitive man-gatherer distinguished more than 200 different plants, among which were dyeing ones. Why are the drawings in some caves made in different tones of the same color, and in others - in two colors of the same tone? Why does it take so long to enter early painting colors of the green-blue-blue part of the spectrum? In the Paleolithic they are almost absent; in Egypt they appear 3.5 thousand years ago, and in Greece only in the 4th century. BC e. Archaeologist A. Formozov believes that our distant ancestors did not immediately understand the bright plumage of the “magic bird” - the Earth. The most ancient colors, red and black, reflect the harsh coloring of life at that time: the solar disk at the horizon and the flame of a fire, full of dangers the darkness of the night and the relative peace of the darkness of the caves. Red and black were associated with opposites ancient world: red - warmth, light, life with hot scarlet blood; black - cold, darkness, death... This symbolism is universal. It was a long way from the cave artist, who had only 4 colors in his palette, to the Egyptians and Sumerians, who added two more (blue and green) to them. But even further from them is the 20th century cosmonaut who took a set of 120 colored pencils on his first flights around the Earth.
The second group of questions that arise when studying cave painting concerns the technology of drawing. The problem can be formulated as follows: did the animals depicted in the drawings of Paleolithic man “come out” of the wall or “go into” it?
In 1923, N. Casteret discovered a Late Paleolithic clay figure of a bear lying on the ground in the Montespan cave. It was covered with indentations - traces of dart strikes, and numerous prints of bare feet were found on the floor. A thought arose: this is a “model” that incorporates hunting pantomimes around the carcass of a dead bear, established over tens of thousands of years. Then the following series can be traced, confirmed by finds in other caves: a life-size model of a bear, dressed in its skin and decorated with a real skull, is replaced by its clay likeness; the animal gradually “gets to its feet” - it is leaned against the wall for stability (this is already a step towards creating a bas-relief); then the animal gradually “retracts” into it, leaving a drawn and then a pictorial outline... This is how archaeologist A. Solar imagines the emergence of Paleolithic painting.
Another way is no less likely. According to Leonardo da Vinci, the first drawing is the shadow of an object illuminated by a fire. Primitive begins to draw, mastering the “outlining” technique. The caves have preserved dozens of such examples. On the walls of the Gargas cave (France) 130 “ghost hands” are visible - human handprints on the wall. It is interesting that in some cases they are depicted with a line, in others - by filling in the external or internal contours (positive or negative stencil), then drawings appear, “torn off” from the object, which is no longer depicted in life-size, in profile or frontally. Sometimes objects are drawn as if in different projections (face and legs - profile, chest and shoulders - frontally). Skill gradually increases. The drawing acquires clarity and confidence of the stroke. By best drawings biologists confidently determine not only the genus, but also the species, and sometimes the subspecies of an animal.
The Magdalenian artists take the next step: through painting they convey dynamics and perspective. Color helps a lot with this. Full of life the horses of the Grand Ben cave seem to be running in front of us, gradually decreasing in size... Later this technique was forgotten, and similar drawings are not found in rock paintings either in the Mesolithic or Neolithic. The last step is the transition from a perspective image to a three-dimensional one. This is how sculptures appear, “emerging” from the walls of the cave.
Which of the above points of view is correct? A comparison of the absolute dating of figurines made of bones and stone indicates that they are approximately the same age: 30-15 thousand years BC. e. Maybe the cave artist took different paths in different places?
Another of the mysteries of cave painting is the lack of background and frame. Figures of horses, bulls, and mammoths are scattered freely along the rock wall. The drawings seem to hang in the air; not even a symbolic line of ground is drawn under them. On the uneven vaults of caves, animals are placed in the most unexpected positions: upside down or sideways. No in drawings of primitive man and a hint of the landscape background. Only in the 17th century. n. e. in Holland the landscape is designed into a special genre.
The study of Paleolithic painting provides specialists with abundant material for searching for the origins various styles and directions to contemporary art. For example, a prehistoric master, 12 thousand years before the advent of pointillist artists, depicted animals on the wall of the Marsoula cave (France) using tiny colored dots. The number of similar examples can be multiplied, but something else is more important: the images on the walls of caves are a fusion of the reality of existence and its reflection in the brain of Paleolithic man. Thus, Paleolithic painting carries information about the level of thinking of a person of that time, about the problems that he lived with and that worried him. Primitive art, discovered more than 100 years ago, remains a real Eldorado for all sorts of hypotheses on this matter.
Dublyansky V.N., popular science book
