A Look Into Famous Rock Art Around the World

Rock art is the earliest known human-made art. It is identified as paintings on rocks with charcoals and animal fats, or etchings made with sharp stone. Rock art represents the first human-desire to communicate and pass on information through images. Information as simple as a person from 17,000 years ago wanting to say “I was here”, or more practical information about animal species for migratory travellers passing through. You won’t find these ancient pieces of art hung in museums, or attributed to famous artists, but rather all across the world. If you were to travel the world to see rock art, where would you go?

First stop,  Kakadu, Australia! Found in Kakadu National Park, there are an estimated 5,000 art sites created by Australian aboriginals over 20,000 years ago. This makes Australia one of the largest concentrations of rock art in the world! The aboriginal people depicted animals, internal organs of animals, bones, symbols, and human figures. Of the depicted animals scientists were able to identify the marsupial tapir, an extinct ancient species of mammal that resembled an anteater. This rock art can be visited by purchasing a pass to Kakadu National Park for approximately $20. 

Next stop,  Altamira Cave, located in the town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain. This cave is approximately 971 feet, or 296 metres long, and was first discovered in 1868. Altamira Cave is considered the first place where prehistoric paintings were discovered. The cave walls are covered in bison that were first etched and then painted over, as well as horses and doe,  hand prints and anthropomorphic figures. When the cave was initially  found most prehistorians at the time deemed the paintings a ‘modern fluke’, since the images were in such good shape. However, In the 29th century the images in Altamira Cave were finally accepted as genuine. The cave can and is still being toured till this day.

Last stop, Lascaux Cave in Montignac, France. This cave is considered “The Sistine Chapel of Prehistory”. It contains a 17ft bull, the largest known animal created in rock art. Along with the paintings prehistorians have found over 350 tools such as blades, backed bladelets, flakes, and shellfish. The pigments used to paint the roughly 600 paintings in Lascaux cave contain traces of reindeer antler. The cave closed to the public in the 1960s as tourists began to damage the artwork. However,  a replica of the cave known as “Lascaux  II”  was created for tourists to visit instead. The cave has unfortunately only continued to deteriorate as time goes on. 

These three locations mark some of the most memorable rock art to be discovered! They represent the humble beginnings of art, and have helped prehistorians learn much about what the planet was like thousands of years ago. I find something incredibly fascinating about looking at rock art. Perhaps it’s the fact I can’t help but wonder about the people who drew these images. What were they thinking? Did they know people thousands of years later would see their art? I can’t help but imagine if my own sketch books were preserved and discovered thousands of years into the future. What would people thing? What would they learn and observe from my art about the culture I live in? What would they misunderstand? What would make them contemplate? Rock art possesses a both mysterious and haunting nature, while at the same time feeling personal. If I I ever got the chance to visit Australia, Spain, or France, I’d love to visit any of these three sites.

Sources:

Magazine, Smithsonian. “Prehistoric Rock Art to Visit Around the World.” Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Oct. 2014, www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/prehistoric-rock-art-visit-around-world-180952989.

“10 Prehistoric Cave Paintings.” Touropia, www.touropia.com/prehistoric-cave-paintings. Accessed 6 Oct. 2021.

Groeneveld, Emma. “Lascaux Cave.” World History Encyclopedia, 6 Sept. 2016, www.worldhistory.org/Lascaux_Cave.

Bradshaw Foundation. “The Cave Art Paintings of the Lascaux Cave.” Bradshaw Foundation, www.bradshawfoundation.com/lascaux. Accessed 6 Oct. 2021.