Images on the walls of caves. Rock reliefs in Tanum. Sweden. Al-Hijr archaeological site. Saudi Arabia
Modern man is surrounded by an incredible number of artistic images. Wherever we turn our gaze, everything is replete with paintings, ornaments, photographs, from the simplest everyday life to works of art.
Throughout history, man has strived to convey the internal or external through the image. “Truly, art lies in nature; whoever knows how to discover it owns it.” Albrecht Durer
Physiologically, our eyes undergo a switch when we slide into darkness. In bright light, the eyes primarily rely on color-sensitive cells in our retinas called cones, but in low light the cones don't have enough photons to work with and cells that sense black-and-white gradients, called bars, are captured. This is why, in low light, colors fade, shadows become harder to distinguish from real objects, and soft boundaries between things disappear.
The end result for early people who viewed pictures of cave fires may have been that a deer with multiple heads, for example, resembled a single, animated beast. Several rather complex artistic techniques enhance this impression.
The artistic culture of mankind dates back to time immemorial - the Paleolithic itself. Everyone knows the oldest rock painting. It was in the Paleolithic (2.5 million-10,000 BC) that art as such arose.
A time when agriculture did not yet exist, and the Earth was inhabited by extinct species of animals, during the Stone Age, when primitive man was engaged in gathering and hunting with the help of primitive weapons.
One is found outside the Hall of the Bulls, where the cave narrows into a long passage called Ney. 
On the right wall of the Neva, an early artist used charcoal to paint a row of five deer heads. The images are almost identical, but each one is positioned at a different angle. Viewed one at a time with a small circle of light moving from right to left, the images appear to illustrate a single deer raising and lowering its head as in a short flipbook animation.
Marc Azema, a Paleolithic researcher and filmmaker at the University of Toulouse in France, studied dozens of examples of ancient images that were supposed to imply movement, and found two main techniques that Paleolithic artists used to do this. The first is matching sequential images, a technique used for the deer head, and the second is called overlay. Instead of appearing sequentially, variations of the image are stacked on top of each other in an overlay to give a sense of movement.
Even then, people began to feel the need to express simple images artistically.
Rock art
Ancient rock carvings carved on stone are called petroglyphs. These drawings, differing in the manner of execution, were located in caves where Paleolithic people lived, sometimes in inaccessible places.
Overlay can be seen in caves throughout France and Spain, but some of the oldest examples are from Chauvet Cave in French region Ardèche. Burnt wood and charcoal streaks along the walls of Chauvet show that fires and pine torches burned in the cave.
One of the most extensive images in the cave is the "Grand Panel", a large panel depicting lions, rhinoceroses, bison, horses and a woolly mammoth. Azema explains that the group may attribute two separate accounts of lions chasing prey. Near the center of the panel is a charcoal rhinoceros that appears to have seven or eight horns, as well as several backs. The rhinos look like they're stacked on top of each other, but Azema teases each part of the image to show that it could actually be one rhino in different places.
Rock painting was performed on stone using a rough cutting tool, as evidenced by stone chisels found at the sites of primitive people.
Mineral dyes were often used, which were applied as a second layer; they were prepared from manganese oxide, coal, kaolite and gave color variations from ocher to black. “The authors of cave paintings had a better understanding of the anatomy of four-legged animals than most modern artists, and made fewer mistakes in drawings of walking mammoths and other mammals.” It is assumed that meaning of rock drawings was ritual, but debates on this topic continue to this day. Mostly animals were depicted, including those that had already become extinct. The image of a person is much less common and dates back to a later period.
In this overlap, he says, the rhinoceros raises and lowers its horn. Azema refers to these images as the beginning of cinema because they depict both narrative and movement. 
We were allowed to stay for about 20 minutes, which was enough time to see all the images except for a few that were difficult to see. Preserving the artwork was a constant battle.
One type of black mold even seems to feed on the light that people bring into the cave. Looking at the art, it seemed like he was reading a partially translated language. Paleolithic art may have been spiritual prayers for a successful hunt - or perhaps they relate to specific events - a time when a pride of lions hunted a large rhinoceros. Or perhaps it was similar to modern art and served many roles that are not easily pigeonholed into categories. Although the images were mostly animals, what the art conveyed to me was humanity.
For rock paintings characterized by a lack of proportions, a simple primitive depiction technique, sometimes a primitive hunting plot is visible, and often the drawings of primitive people conveyed movement.
Rock painting distributed throughout the world. Its most striking examples are in Kazakhstan (Tamgaly), Karelia, Spain (Altamira cave), France (Fond-de-Gaume, Montespan caves, etc.), Siberia, on the Don (Kostenki), Italy, England , Germany, Algeria.
The images were an attempt to express a reaction to a dynamic environment. Zach Zorich is a freelance science journalist and editor-in-chief of Archaeology magazine. These are just some of the fabulous and mysterious European cave paintings discovered so far. But according to two scientists working in South Africa, this view of ancient artists is completely erroneous. They believe that the paintings are evidence of a complex and modern society.
Researchers believe they can prove that cave artists were just like us. Etzel Cardena works with Americans who are particularly susceptible to hypnosis. He found that all of these people reported the same feelings and visual hallucinations that mirror the experiences of those who participate in shamanic and other religions.
The history of the first rock art found
“After the work in Altamira, all art began to decline.” Pablo Picasso Cave drawings were carefully hidden in numerous caves not in one place, but all over the world. They first attracted public attention only 120 years ago.
He believes this means that our minds are all the same and we share the same experiences in altered states of consciousness. Artists don't eat the animals they draw. His team works with stroke and migraine patients by mapping the areas of the brain responsible for visual hallucinations.
We have discovered a neurological connection to the past, inside our own heads. Each scientist makes a significant contribution to our knowledge, but together their work is stronger. South African archaeologists were unaware that there were psychologists and neuroscientists whose work could support their own hypotheses.
Why did this happen relatively recently, despite the fact that they were probably found several times before? Apparently, their ease of execution, often similar to children's drawings, was simply unremarkable.
In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the entire artistic heritage of our planet was systematized and comprehended. In the middle of the 19th century, no art older than Egyptian or Celtic was known.
Experts in prehistoric diet and lifestyle can also learn what other researchers have discovered. Their own work showed conclusively that cave artists did not eat the animals they painted. In other words, cave art is not an illustrated menu or a hunting bucket list.
Our modern minds are what allow us to imagine other worlds and communicate about abstract concepts. Our modern minds allow us to question who we are and where we come from, and indeed allow us to be scientists, priests and shamans.
The existence of some ancient rudimentary forms of art was assumed, but it was believed that they would have to be extremely primitive. This is probably why it took half a century to recognize and comprehend the already found, very meaningful and multifaceted cave drawings .
Marcelino de Sautuola is considered the discoverer rock art. He explored the caves that were located in the area where he lived since 1875. In 1879, while exploring the Altamira Cave, his nine-year-old daughter discovered amazing drawings, which were later called the “Sistine Chapel of Primitive Art” of the Altamira Cave.
Scientists and archaeologists tell their stories of discovery and revelation and take us to places we will never see. We visit their private digs, laboratories and caves to track the answers to those elusive and universal questions: Who are we and where do we come from?
Claire Imber was the series researcher. Of course, the most concentrated set of sites, and also among the best cave art in France, is found in the Dordogne. And many of them are open to the public—enough, with various museums and other interesting attractions in the area, to keep visitors busy for a week or more.
It took Marcelino de Sautuola a whole year to dare to make a public statement. He was right to worry, since his statement caused an incredible storm of unrest in scientific circles.
It took a lot of time and discovery to recognize the authenticity rock paintings Altamira. With the passage of time and numerous similar discoveries, experts were forced to admit that Marcelio was right; unfortunately, he did not live to see these days.
Not only are there many sites and museums in the city itself, but others are within easy reach. For those who want to explore the archeology of the area, read mine, with lots of tips and suggestions on where to stay and eat, how to get there and what to do.
A good place to start once you're in the Vézère Valley. For those on family holiday in the Weser Valley, read A Journey Through Archaeology. This is because these are the best prehistoric paintings still available to the public in France.
Older than the most ancient - the creations of the Neanderthals
Spanish cave of Nerja with finds found in it rock paintings may revolutionize ideas about Neanderthals. These caves were discovered in 1959 by boys hunting bats. Excavations in these caves continue to this day.
It was in Nerja that they were discovered cave drawings strange spiral shape, reminiscent of the structure of DNA. Scientists claim that pinnipeds, which the inhabitants of that time ate, had a similar appearance.
“Art must first of all be clear and simple; its meaning is too great and important.” M. Gorky The coal found in the images was studied by radiocarbon dating, which determined the approximate age of the drawings. Their age stunned everyone - it turned out that the drawings were about 43 thousand years old. This is 13 thousand years older than the drawings of the Chauvey Cave, France, which were still considered the most ancient.
Visit to the decorated caves in the lot
Getting tickets requires a bit of planning - read mine. The Lot department of the Midi-Pyrenees region has several impressive limestone caves. And many of them are open to the public as geological attractions. Three of these caves with "Ice Age" art are open to the public - and are as interesting for their geology as the prehistoric paintings of the caves.
The last two are among the most important caves in Paleolithic Europe, and archaeological research, based on the images in these two caves, did much to advance the understanding of cave art in Europe. These three caves in the Lot are not that far from the Weser Valley, just a few hours' drive. Easy to achieve best places in both areas. The three Lot caves are not as close as some of the best caves in the Dordogne. However, with careful planning, it is possible to see all three in one day if necessary.
On this moment There have been no official statements about the Nerja Cave, since they can have a great influence on ideas about human development, cave drawings need numerous studies and confirmation.
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13 October 2014, 13:31
Visiting decorated caves in the Pyrenees
The Majestic Pyrenees also has a significant concentration of decorated caves. Unfortunately, for conservation reasons, not many of them are open to the public. But those that are available to the public are exceptional examples of prehistoric cave art in France and should not be missed. Next to these caves is the Park of Prehistoric Art of the Pyrenees, and here visitors will find excellent facsimiles of painted panels from some of the caves in the area that are not open to the public.
Rock art of Horseshoe Canyon, Utah, USA.
Similar ancient historical monuments are not concentrated somewhere in one place, but scattered throughout the planet. Petroglyphs were not found at the same time; sometimes the discoveries of different drawings are separated by significant periods of time.
At times, on the same rocks, scientists find drawings from different millennia. There are similarities between a variety of rock paintings, so it seems as if in ancient times there was a single ancestral culture and universal knowledge associated with it. Thus, many of the figures in the drawings have the same features, although their authors knew nothing about each other - they were separated by an enormous distance and time. However, the similarity in the images is systematic: in particular, the heads of the gods always emit light. Despite the fact that cave paintings have been studied for about 200 years, they still remain a mystery.
List of cave art sites throughout France open to the public
Below is a directory of all the decorated caves in France that people can visit. Some of them are owned and operated by the state, others are privately owned. When they are open throughout the year, ticket prices, facilities at each site, and other factors vary from cave to cave.
The site is closed to the public today. A facsimile of the panels can be seen at the innovative interpretation center in the village. Some of the original carved limestone blocks that were removed from the cave can now be seen in the National Archaeological Museum near Paris. This is a large cave that has been visited for many centuries and is particularly well known for the geological properties of its limestone. Most of the paintings are images of mammoths.
It is believed that the first images of mysterious creatures were rock paintings on Mount Hunan, China (picture above). They are about 47,000 years old. These drawings allegedly depict early contacts with unknown beings, possibly visitors from extraterrestrial civilizations.
Bara Bahau
Another cave has engraved images, but they are considered too difficult for visitors to access without potential damage. Set deep within the cave on a sloping, soft limestone wall, it features a series of engraved animals and geometric designs, including horses, bison, bears and deer. Before the cave was occupied by Paleolithic communities, bears hibernated in the cave and scratched the walls with their claws. As in other caves, the artists used some of these scratches.
The original prehistoric finely cut images are difficult to see. They intended to use the cave as an airplane hangar. This activity destroyed much of the archaeological deposits in the cave. Bernifal's Cave is as close to "pristine" as most people are ever going to get when it comes to exploring Paleolithic art in France. There are no electric lights or walkways installed as most caves are open to the public. The cave is privately owned and lighting is provided by the guide in the form of torches.
These drawings were found on the territory National Park called Sera Da Capivara in Brazil. Experts claim that the paintings were created about twenty-nine thousand years ago:
Interesting cave paintings dating back over 10,000 years were recently discovered in the state of Chhattisgarh, India:
This cave painting dates back to approximately 10,000 BC and is located in Val Camonica, Italy. The drawn figures look like two creatures wearing protective suits, and their heads emit light. They hold strange devices in their hands:
The next example is the rock carving of a luminous man, which is located 18 km west of the city of Navoi (Uzbekistan). At the same time, a shining figure sits on a throne, and the figures standing near it wear something similar to protective masks on their faces. The kneeling man in the lower part of the picture does not have such a device - he is at a considerable distance from the luminous figure and, apparently, does not need such protection.
Tassilin Adjer (River Plateau) is the largest rock art site in the Sahara. The plateau is located in the southeastern part of Algeria. The oldest petroglyphs of Tassil-Adjer date back to the 7th millennium BC. And the latest - the 7th century AD. Drawings on the plateau were first noticed in 1909:
An image dating to approximately 600 BC, from Tassilin-Adjer. The drawing shows a creature with different eyes, a strange petal hairstyle and a shapeless figure. More than a hundred similar “gods” were found in caves:
These frescoes, found in the Sahara Desert, depict a humanoid creature in a spacesuit. Frescoes are 5 thousand years old:
Australia is isolated from other continents. However, on the Kimberley Plateau (northwest Australia) there are entire galleries of petroglyphs. And here all the same motifs are present: gods with similar faces and with a halo of rays around their heads. The drawings were first discovered in 1891:
These are images of Vandina, the goddess of the sky, in a halo of shining rays.
Rock art at Puerta del Canyon, Argentina:
Sego Canyon, Utah, USA. The most ancient petroglyphs appeared here more than 8,000 years ago:
"Skala-newspaper" there, in Utah:
"Alien", Arizona, USA:
California, USA:
Alien image. Kalbak-Tash, Altai, Russia:
"Sun Man" from the Karakol Valley, Altai:
Another of the many petroglyphs of the Italian Val Camonica valley in the Southern Alps:
Rock paintings of Gobustan, Azerbaijan. Scientists date the oldest drawings to the Mesolithic era (about 10 thousand years ago:
Ancient rock paintings in Niger:
Onega petroglyphs at Cape Besov Nos, Russia. The most famous of the Onega petroglyphs is Bes, its length is two and a half meters. The image is crossed by a deep crack, dividing it exactly into two halves. A “gap” into another, otherworldly world. Within a kilometer radius of Bes, satellite navigation often fails. The clock also behaves unpredictably: it can run forward, it can stop. Scientists can only guess what this anomaly is connected with. The ancient figure is cut by an Orthodox cross. Most likely, it was hollowed out on top of the demonic image by the monks of the Murom Monastery in the 15th–16th centuries. To neutralize the devil's power:
Petroglyphs of Tamgaly, Kazakhstan. Rock paintings abound with the most different stories and the most common of them depict divine sun-headed creatures:
White Shaman Rock in the Lower Canyon, Texas. According to experts, the age of this seven-meter image is more than four thousand years. The White Shaman is believed to be hiding the secrets of an ancient vanished cult:
Rock paintings of giant people from South Africa:
Mexico. Veracruz, Las Palmas: cave paintings depicting creatures in spacesuits:
Rock paintings in the valley of the Pegtymel River, Chukotka, Russia:
The twin gods fight with battle axes. One of the petroglyphs found in Tanumschede, western Sweden (the drawings are painted red already in the modern period):
Among the petroglyphs on the Litsleby rock massif, a giant (2.3 m tall) image of a god with a spear (possibly Odin) dominates:
Sarmysh-say gorge, Uzbekistan. Numerous ancient rock paintings of people in strange clothes were found in the gorge, some of which can be interpreted as images of “ancient astronauts”:
Rock paintings of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, USA, depicting certain creatures - kachina. The Hopi considered these mysterious kachinas to be their heavenly teachers:
In addition, there are many ancient rock paintings either solar symbols, or some objects resembling aircraft.
Rock paintings of San Antonio Cave, Texas, USA.
This ancient cave painting, discovered in Australia, depicts something very similar to a space alien ship. At the same time, the image may well mean something quite understandable.
Something resembling a rocket taking off. Kalbysh Tash, Altai.
Petroglyph depicting a UFO. Bolivia.
UFO from a cave in Chhattisgarh, India
Petroglyphs Lake Onega depict cosmic, solar and lunar signs: circles and semicircles with outgoing lines-rays, in which a modern person will clearly see both a radar and a spacesuit. Moreover - TV.
Rock art, Arizona, USA
Petroglyphs of Panama
California, USA
Guanche rock paintings, Canary Islands
Ancient images of the mystical symbol of the spiral are found throughout the world. These cave paintings were once created by Indians in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA.
Rock art, Nevada, USA
One of the drawings discovered in a cave on the island of Youth, off the coast of Cuba. In it one can find great similarities with the structure solar system, where there is an image of eight planets with their largest satellites.
These petroglyphs are located in Pakistan, in the Indus River Valley:
Once upon a time, a highly developed Indian civilization existed in these places. It was from her that these ancient images carved on stones remained. Take a closer look - don't you think these are mysterious vimanas - flying chariots from ancient Indian myths?