Where has cave art been discovered around the world?

Cave art, dating back roughly 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, has been discovered across the globe. The first cave recognized as containing Paleolithic art was Altamira in Spain. Most cave art is in France and Spain, but some sites are also in Portugal, England, Italy, Romania, Germany, Russia, and Indonesia. Examples of cave art have been found in the Americas, such as in Mexico and the southeastern United States. In Asia, cave art has been discovered in locations such as Borneo, Indonesia, and in west-central Madhya Pradesh state, India. Additionally, the Australian continent is marked with thousands of rock-art sites. Africa also contains diverse rock art, with some of the oldest examples, dating back 75,000 years, discovered in South Africa.

What materials and tools did people use to create cave art?

Cave artists employed various materials and techniques to create their art. They produced pigments from ground clay, charcoal, and minerals. These pigments were applied as solids or blown onto surfaces through a pipe. They mixed pigments with liquids like water, urine, plant juices, animal blood, or egg yolk and daubed the mixture on cave walls with their fingers or brushes made from feathers, animal hair, or split sticks. To make engravings, they used flint tools on hard surfaces or their fingers on softer walls. The Aurignacian culture, known for toolmaking, invented the burin, an engraving tool that enabled much of the art. They often exploited the natural contours of the rock surface to add a three-dimensional quality to the work.

What kinds of images are commonly found in cave art?

Cave art commonly features paintings and engravings of animals, human figures, handprints, and geometric signs. Animal figures, the majority of images in caves from all periods, include horses, bison, aurochs, cervids, and ibex. The species most often represented during the earliest millennia when cave art was first being made were the most-formidable ones, now long extinct, such as cave lions, mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and cave bears. Though few, human representations include human heads or genitalia in isolation. Hand stencils and handprints are characteristic of the earlier periods. Geometric signs are always numerous, though the specific types vary based on the time period in which the cave was painted and the cave’s location.

Why do scientists think early humans made cave art?

Cave art, found in sites dating back 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, is generally considered to have symbolic or religious functions. Experts propose cave paintings were made during religious ceremonies before hunts, served to mark boundaries, or are attributed to shamanism. One shamanic practice involved ceremonies in deep caves where a shaman would enter a trance to contact spirits. The paintings may have been created in the framework of shamanic beliefs and practices to seek the spirits' benevolence. Some theorize the art acted as a signature to record an individual's existence.

How has the study of cave art helped researchers learn about ancient human life and culture?

Cave art, dating from 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, primarily features paintings and engravings using red or black pigments. The art mainly depicts animals, such as horses, bison, and mammoths, with occasional human figures or symbols. Researchers believe cave art served symbolic or religious functions, potentially linked to shamanic practices. The specific meanings of the images remain unknown, but they offer insights into the mental world and belief systems of Upper Paleolithic peoples. Cave paintings in Borneo and Sulawesi, Indonesia, have been dated to around 40,000 years ago. The Bhimbetka rock shelters in India feature paintings over 10,000 years old, illustrating a cultural sequence from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled cultivators and their spiritual expressions.

Cave art

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Aboriginal cave paintings, Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia

Ceiling of the Altamira replica cave at the National Archeological Museum in Madrid, Spain, showing textured rock surface with reddish-brown cave paintings.

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Key People:: Henri Breuil

Related Topics:: cave; Rock art; Today in History—September 12: The Discovery of the Lascaux Caves; Macaroni; cave painting

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Cave art

visual arts

Written by

Jean Clottes

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Last updated

Nov. 12, 2026 •History

Top Questions

What is cave art?
Cave art includes paintings and engravings in caves and shelters dating back to the Ice Age (Upper Paleolithic), roughly 40,000 to 14,000 years ago. Most cave art consists of paintings made with red or black pigment from iron oxides, manganese dioxide, and charcoal. Representations include few humans, but animal figures always constitute the majority of images. The species most often represented were the most-formidable ones, now long extinct, such as cave lions, mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and cave bears. Cave art is generally considered to have a symbolic or religious function. The first painted cave acknowledged as being Paleolithic was Altamira in Spain.
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Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Where has cave art been discovered around the world?
Cave art, dating back roughly 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, has been discovered across the globe. The first cave recognized as containing Paleolithic art was Altamira in Spain. Most cave art is in France and Spain, but some sites are also in Portugal, England, Italy, Romania, Germany, Russia, and Indonesia.

Examples of cave art have been found in the Americas, such as in Mexico and the southeastern United States. In Asia, cave art has been discovered in locations such as Borneo, Indonesia, and in west-central Madhya Pradesh state, India. Additionally, the Australian continent is marked with thousands of rock-art sites. Africa also contains diverse rock art, with some of the oldest examples, dating back 75,000 years, discovered in South Africa.
5 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What materials and tools did people use to create cave art?
Cave artists employed various materials and techniques to create their art. They produced pigments from ground clay, charcoal, and minerals. These pigments were applied as solids or blown onto surfaces through a pipe. They mixed pigments with liquids like water, urine, plant juices, animal blood, or egg yolk and daubed the mixture on cave walls with their fingers or brushes made from feathers, animal hair, or split sticks.

To make engravings, they used flint tools on hard surfaces or their fingers on softer walls. The Aurignacian culture, known for toolmaking, invented the burin, an engraving tool that enabled much of the art. They often exploited the natural contours of the rock surface to add a three-dimensional quality to the work.
4 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What kinds of images are commonly found in cave art?
Cave art commonly features paintings and engravings of animals, human figures, handprints, and geometric signs.

Animal figures, the majority of images in caves from all periods, include horses, bison, aurochs, cervids, and ibex. The species most often represented during the earliest millennia when cave art was first being made were the most-formidable ones, now long extinct, such as cave lions, mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, and cave bears.

Though few, human representations include human heads or genitalia in isolation. Hand stencils and handprints are characteristic of the earlier periods.

Geometric signs are always numerous, though the specific types vary based on the time period in which the cave was painted and the cave’s location.
4 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Why do scientists think early humans made cave art?
Cave art, found in sites dating back 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, is generally considered to have symbolic or religious functions. Experts propose cave paintings were made during religious ceremonies before hunts, served to mark boundaries, or are attributed to shamanism. One shamanic practice involved ceremonies in deep caves where a shaman would enter a trance to contact spirits. The paintings may have been created in the framework of shamanic beliefs and practices to seek the spirits' benevolence. Some theorize the art acted as a signature to record an individual's existence.
5 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How has the study of cave art helped researchers learn about ancient human life and culture?
Cave art, dating from 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, primarily features paintings and engravings using red or black pigments. The art mainly depicts animals, such as horses, bison, and mammoths, with occasional human figures or symbols.

Researchers believe cave art served symbolic or religious functions, potentially linked to shamanic practices. The specific meanings of the images remain unknown, but they offer insights into the mental world and belief systems of Upper Paleolithic peoples. Cave paintings in Borneo and Sulawesi, Indonesia, have been dated to around 40,000 years ago. The Bhimbetka rock shelters in India feature paintings over 10,000 years old, illustrating a cultural sequence from nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled cultivators and their spiritual expressions.
5 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Cave art, generally, the numerous paintings and engravings found in caves and shelters dating back to the Ice Age (Upper Paleolithic), roughly between 40,000 and 14,000 years ago. See also rock art.

The first painted cave acknowledged as being Paleolithic, meaning from the Stone Age, was Altamira in Spain. The art discovered there was deemed by experts to be the work of modern humans (Homo sapiens). Most examples of cave art have been found in France and in Spain, but a few are also known in Portugal, England, Italy, Romania, Germany, Russia, and Indonesia. The total number of known decorated sites is about 400.

Most cave art consists of paintings made with either red or black pigment. The reds were made with iron oxides (hematite), whereas manganese dioxide and charcoal were used for the blacks. Sculptures have been discovered as well, such as the clay statues of bison in the Tuc d’Audoubert cave in 1912 and a statue of a bear in the Montespan cave in 1923, both located in the French Pyrenees. Carved walls were discovered in the shelters of Roc-aux-Sorciers (1950) in Vienne and of Cap Blanc (1909) in Dordogne. Engravings were made with fingers on soft walls or with flint tools on hard surfaces in a number of other caves and shelters.

Representations in caves, painted or otherwise, include few humans, but sometimes human heads or genitalia appear in isolation. Hand stencils and handprints are characteristic of the earlier periods, as in the Gargas cave in the French Pyrenees. Animal figures always constitute the majority of images in caves from all periods. During the earliest millennia when cave art was first being made, the species most often represented, as in the Chauvet–Pont-d’Arc cave in France, were the most-formidable ones, now long extinct—cave lions, mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, cave bears. Later on, horses, bison, aurochs, cervids, and ibex became prevalent, as in the Lascaux and Niaux caves. Birds and fish were rarely depicted. Geometric signs are always numerous, though the specific types vary based on the time period in which the cave was painted and the cave’s location.

Cave art is generally considered to have a symbolic or religious function, sometimes both. The exact meanings of the images remain unknown, but some experts think they may have been created within the framework of shamanic beliefs and practices. One such practice involved going into a deep cave for a ceremony during which a shaman would enter a trance state and send his or her soul into the otherworld to make contact with the spirits and try to obtain their benevolence.

Examples of paintings and engravings in deep caves—i.e., existing completely in the dark—are rare outside Europe, but they do exist in the Americas (e.g., the Maya caves in Mexico, the so-called mud-glyph caves in the southeastern United States), in Australia (Koonalda Cave, South Australia), and in Asia (the Kalimantan caves in Borneo, Indonesia, with many hand stencils). Art in the open, on shelters or on rocks, is extremely abundant all over the world and generally belongs to much later times.

Jean Clottes The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Cave art

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