Paleolithic Animal Paintings in Caves-Lascaux

The cave paintings at Lascaux date back to between 15,000-13,000 BCE. The paintings, made from natural plant matter such as ocher, adorn the cavern walls located far back from the mouth of the cave where early humans would have been dwelling most of the time. These images speak to the amazingly strong ties between these people and the natural world around them.

All the wild animals along these cave walls were animals that they would be seeing roaming by their cave mouth.  However, these animals were not necessarily the ones they were hunting. These were the intimidating species that when conquered were considered great triumphs. As seen in the picture above, many generations added to these sweeping illustrations, creating a seeming stampede.