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Dec 9, 2011 · In 1994, three French cave explorers discovered hundreds of prehistoric paintings and engravings on the walls of the Chauvet Cave in southern France.
It’s among more than a dozen other dated cave paintings on Sulawesi that now rival the earliest cave art in Spain and France, long believed to be the oldest on earth.
- Chauvet Cave, France
- Cave of Altamira, Spain
- Leang Timpuseng Cave, Indonesia
- Kakadu National Park, Australia
- Cave of El Castillo, Spain
- Nawarla Gabarnmang, Australia
- Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, India
- Lascaux, France
- Coliboaia Cave, Romania
- Apollo 11 Cave, Namibia
The Chauvet-Pont-d’ Arc Cave, widely known simply as the Chauvet Cave is one of the most famous prehistoric cave art sites. In addition to being home to some of the oldest cave paintings in the world - these are estimated to be created about 30,000 to 32,000 years BP - it also contains some of the most beautifully preserved examples of prehistoric ...
The Cave of Altamira in Cantabria, Spain, is home to some of the most famous cave paintings in the world. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of visitors took their toll and in the 1970s, the incredibly well preserved cave paintings dating back to 35,500 years started to show signs of damage. To preserve Altamira cave art and prevent further damag...
Photo by: M. Aubert/Nature Cave paintings in the Leang Timpuseng Cave in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, have radically changed the understanding of the earliest human creativity. Recent analysis of the mineral deposits on the images has shown that the oldest hand stencil is nearly 40,000 years old, which means that it predates many of the oldest cave p...
Recognized by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for its natural and cultural significance in 1981, the Kakadu National Park is also famous for containing one of the highest concentrations of rock art in the world. To date, more than 5,000 sites have been documented, while the most outstanding examples of Aboriginal rock art can be admired at Ubir...
Photo by: Pedro Saura Located within the complex of Caves of Monte Castillo, the Cave of el Castillo in the Spanish region of Cantabria contains the oldest known cave paintings in Europe. In 2012, an unimpressive red disc was found to be at least 40,800 years old which means that it predates artwork in other European caves for several thousand year...
Photo by: John Gollings Discovered only in 2006, Nawarla Gabarnmang in Australia’s Northern Territory was soon found to contain hundreds of spectacular cave paintings including the oldest cave painting in Australia with a confirmed age. During archaeological excavations following the site’s discovery, archaeologists found a small piece of charcoal-...
Photo by: Bernard Gagnon Significance of the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh was first discovered in the 1950s by the Indian archaeologist V.S. Wakanar who noticed a similarity with prehistoric caves in Europe. But the true significance of Bhimbetka was discovered only by later archaeological excavations - most in t...
Also known simply as Lascaux, the Lascaux Cave in southeastern France not only contains some of the oldest cave paintings in the world. It also contains some of the most important cave paintings for understanding of prehistoric art. Unfortunately, Lascaux’s 17,000-years-old paintings began to deteriorate rapidly soon after the cave’s discovery in 1...
Photo by: Andrei Posmosanu/Romanian Federation of Speleology Even though the Coliboaia Cave has been known for over a century, its prehistoric cave paintings were discovered only in 2009. Radiocarbon-dated at 32,000 to 35,000 years old, the images of various animals including a horse, bison, rhinoceros and bear are the oldest known cave paintings i...
The Apollo 11 Cave in southwest Namibia is best known for containing seven stone slabs with drawings that have been radiocarbon dated to 27,500 to 25,500 years BP. Until recently, they were the oldest known works of art in Africa. The cave, which has been named after Apollo 11 spaceflight because its discovery in 1969 closely coincided with the fir...
- Alexandra Kiely
- The Altamira Cave Paintings, Spain. The rock art at Altamira, Spain was the first in the world to be recognized as prehistoric artwork, but it took years for that fact to become a consensus.
- Lascaux, France. Get the latest articles delivered to your inbox. Sign up to our Free Weekly Newsletter. Discovered in 1940 by some kids and their dog, the Lascaux caves represented the motherlode of European rock art for many decades.
- The Apollo 11 Cave Stones, Namibia. Rock art abounds in Africa, with at least 100,000 sites discovered from prehistory through to the 19th century, but it has thus far been badly under-studied.
- Kakadu National Park and Other Rock Art Sites, Australia. Humans have lived in the area that is now Kakadu National Park, in the Arnhem Land region of Australia’s northern coast, for about 60,000 years.
- Maltravieso Cave—Cáceres, Spain. (64,000 Years Old)
- Caves in the District of Maros… Again—Indonesia (43,900 Years Old)
- Lubang Jeriji Saléh Cave—East Kalimantan, Borneo (40,000 Years Old)
- Cave of El Castillo— Spain. (40,000 Years Old)
Mar 30, 2020 · 10 prehistoric cave paintings. Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. 1 – Magura Cave. - Advertisement -
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Nov 25, 2022 · The Grotte de Chauvet was discovered in December 1994 by three spelunkers (cavers). Jean-Marie Chauvet, Élliette Brunel, and Christian Hillaire were hiking on the Cirque d’Estre when a breeze from a nearby hole piqued their interest.
