Prehistoric art
Visual and material works made by humans before written records, including paintings, engravings, sculptures, and decorated objects.
Chauvet Cave: A cave in southern France containing animal paintings made during the Upper Paleolithic. Its layered paintings include some of the oldest known figurative images in Europe.
Cave painting: Images made by applying pigment to rock surfaces inside caves or rock shelters. Pigments and uneven cave walls shaped the appearance and preservation of many prehistoric images.
Upper Paleolithic: The later part of the Paleolithic in Eurasia, beginning around 50,000 years ago and ending with the last Ice Age. Many famous European figurative works belong to this archaeological period.
Archaeological interpretation: The analysis of material evidence to infer past human behavior, social life, and meaning. Images survive, but their makers' purposes rarely survive with them.
Lascaux: A cave in southwestern France famous for its Upper Paleolithic paintings of animals and signs. Its vivid animal figures became a defining example of European cave art.
Petroglyph: An image or design made by removing part of a rock surface through pecking, carving, or abrasion. Rock engraving offered a durable alternative to applying pigment.
Middle Stone Age: An African archaeological period associated with early Homo sapiens and varied stone technologies. Engraved ochre from this period pushes evidence of symbolic marking far earlier than many cave paintings.
Paleolithic religion: Proposed religious beliefs and practices of Paleolithic peoples, inferred from archaeological evidence. Ritual explanations for cave images remain hypotheses rather than direct testimony.
Altamira Cave: A cave in northern Spain containing Paleolithic paintings, especially polychrome bison. Its ceiling paintings helped establish the credibility of prehistoric art.
Ochre: A naturally occurring earth pigment colored by iron oxides, ranging from yellow to red and brown. Ochre supplied durable color for painting, body decoration, and marked objects.