cave paintings – News Stories About cave paintings - Page 1

Earliest Human Writing Allegedly Found in Ice Age Cave Art

'Person Off the Street'
Discovers Earliest
Human Writing

'Person Off the Street' Discovers Earliest Human Writing

Furniture conservator Ben Bacon helps identify what's touted as ice age proto-writing

(Newser) - Recording the reproductive cycles of animals in cave art likely helped hunter-gatherers in Europe survive during the last ice age some 20,000 years ago, according to researchers—a discovery made in part by "effectively a person off the street." Londoner Ben Bacon was intrigued by small dots,...

It Was Like TV
for the Stone Age

new study

Apr 25, 2022 11:05 AM CDT

It Was Like TV for the Stone Age

Study suggests cave artists used firelight to animate their work around the hearth

(Newser) - A museumgoer who checks out a prehistoric drawing etched on a rock sees only the static image, safely housed under a glass case under controlled light. A new study suggests the people who first looked at the same rock saw something else entirely—a dynamic image that appeared to be...

This Might Be the Oldest Drawing of an Animal, Ever

This Drawing of a Pig
Might Be Historic

new study

Jan 14, 2021 10:55 AM CST

This Drawing of a Pig Might Be Historic

Study suggests image in Indonesian cave is oldest known depiction of an animal

(Newser) - An ancient artist ventured into an Indonesian cave 45,000 years ago and used primitive paint to sketch pigs on the ceiling. In a study at Science Advances , archaeologists have now declared the painting to be the oldest depiction of animals known in history, reports Smithsonian Magazine . The scene depicts...

This Cave
Art May Be
a Game Changer

new study

Dec 12, 2019 11:21 AM CST

This Cave Art May Be a Game Changer

Depiction of hunt in Indonesia could date back 44K years, the oldest one yet

(Newser) - The history of art just got an update. A large cave drawing in Indonesia has been dated back 44,000 years, which would make it the oldest known cave art in existence. But that date would also make it "the oldest pictorial record of storytelling and the earliest figurative...

Oldest Figurative Painting Ever Found in Borneo Cave

Oldest Figurative Painting
Depicts Wild Cow

Nov 7, 2018 6:47 PM CST

Oldest Figurative Painting Depicts Wild Cow

Recent research shows artwork to be at least 40,000 years old

(Newser) - A wild cow that wandered what is now Indonesian Borneo tens of thousands of years ago is the subject of what is believed to the the oldest figurative painting ever found. The image was discovered in the 1990s in a network of limestone caves on the eastern edge of the...

Cave Paintings
Change Story
of Ancient Art

Oct 8, 2014 3:27 PM CDT

Cave Paintings Change Story of Ancient Art

Indonesian art goes back at least 39K years

(Newser) - A closer look at cave paintings in Indonesia may redraw the map of prehistoric art and show us that the world's first artists were in Africa, National Geographic reports. An article in Nature says that cave paintings on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, once considered up to 12,000...

Mysterious Stone
Spheres to Be
Protected

Jun 29, 2014 9:34 AM CDT

Mysterious Stone Spheres to Be Protected

They join more than 1K sites now on UN list of World Heritage sites

(Newser) - The planet now has more than 1,000 UNESCO World Heritage Sites : places "of outstanding value to humanity" that UNESCO helps to safeguard and preserve. The World Heritage Committee wrapped up its 38th session on Wednesday by adding 26 sites to its list and expanding four more; that list...

Most Ancient Cave Artists Were Probably Women

Researcher studies stenciled hands, thinks they're female

(Newser) - A Penn State archeologist has floated an intriguing theory about ancient cave art: He thinks most of the artists were women. If true, it would upend long-held notions about cave paintings given that they often depict hunts and animals, and have been traditionally ascribed to ancient men, reports National Geographic...

Cavemen
Artists Were
High When
Painting

study says

Jul 20, 2013 2:13 PM CDT

Cavemen Artists Were High When Painting

Universal patterns explained by hallucinogenic drugs, says study

(Newser) - Trippy patterns and funky shapes can be found in ancient cave art from different parts of the world. How to explain it? Try magic mushrooms. Japanese researchers who analyzed drawings going back 40,000 years think prehistoric artists were high on hallucinogenic drugs, reports Live Science . The drugs brought on...

Cave Art
Dates Back
to Neanderthals

study says

Jun 14, 2012 5:30 PM CDT

Cave Art Dates Back to Neanderthals

Earliest work more than 40K years old

(Newser) - Our ancestors were artists far earlier than experts had believed, new dating techniques reveal. Paintings in El Castillo cave in northwestern Spain are at least 40,800 years old—the oldest ever found, and ancient enough that Neanderthals could have painted them. That would come as a surprise, since experts...

Stone-Age Artists:
The 1st Animators

study says

Jun 4, 2012 4:38 PM CDT

Stone-Age Artists: The 1st Animators

Chauvet cave paintings tell stories, simulate movement

(Newser) - A Stone-Age Walt Disney? That's what two French researchers see in 30,000-year-old paintings that adorn caves like Chauvet and La Baume Latrone, Science News reports. Long cave paintings depict full stories, they say, and rotating bone disks found at the sites can be twirled to animate images of...

First-Ever
Neanderthal
Paintings
Discovered

Feb 12, 2012 4:08 PM CST

First-Ever Neanderthal Paintings Discovered

Nerja caves in Spain contain art that pre-dates Homo sapiens

(Newser) - Cave paintings in Spain may be the oldest ever found and the first known by Neanderthal artists, New Scientist reports. Oddly resembling a DNA double helix, the paintings actually depict seals—which locals in Malaga, Spain, would have eaten at the time. Charcoal remains near the paintings, in Spain's...

Prehistoric Kids Went
to Art Class

Sep 30, 2011 12:58 PM CDT

Prehistoric Kids Went to Art Class

Cave art suggests adults taught children to be creative

(Newser) - Looks like art class may date back 13,000 years: Back then, research suggests, kids were getting help from adults as they decorated cave walls. Analysis of cave art in France reveals which works were created by kids, and the findings even indicate the artists’ likely ages and genders, the...

Mold Threatens Cave Paintings

Dec 9, 2007 8:30 AM CST

Mold Threatens Cave Paintings

Cave will be sealed for up to four months for treatment

(Newser) - They've existed for thousands of years but it's the lowly fungus that could finally be the death of France's most famous prehistoric cave paintings. Invading gray and black mold is threatening the animal images in the Lascaux cave in southwestern France, and scientists are uncertain what has caused it. The...