How many are there around the world? About 400 different caves have been found with cave drawings and the most important ones are shown on the world map. There are even some in the UK at Cresswell Crags in Derbyshire!
Cave Painting
What are cave paintings? They are a type of painting on the walls and ceilings of caves. The first ones to be found are in Altamira in Spain in 1870 and are about 15000 years old. The oldest ones were found in 1994 in Borneo, Indonesia and are about 45000 years old.
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What do the paintings show? Most of the oldest ones are of animals and people, although there are some that look like stencils of hundreds of hands. Patterns are often seen around the drawings.
What are they drawn with? Most of the drawings are painted in either red or black colours. Some drawings are engraved using fingers on soft surfaces or with stone flint tools on hard walls. The paint was made from berries, clay, soot, or charcoal. The tools used to paint could have been made by attaching straw, leaves, moss, or hair to sticks. They might have used hollow bones or reeds to spray the colour on, like airbrushing.
Hands
Hands are often seen in cave paintings. There is even a cave in Argentina called the Cave of Hands as the walls are covered in HUNDREDS of hands! Most of the hands are done by spraying around the artist's hand with paint made from dyes.
Activity: On a piece of paper, draw round your hands. Use red, brown or black crayons or spray paint and colour some in. Shade around others, leaving the hand clear.
Get ideas from these photos from Caves around the world.
Patterns
Cave paintings often include patterns and shapes. Its impossible to know exactly what each of the patterns is meant to be or even if they represent anything or are just shapes. Archaeologists think that some of the patterns are showing important things in the cave people's lives. See what you think.
Activity: On a piece of paper, see what patterns you can draw. Start by copying the wiggles and swirls and then try drawing patterns to mean something from YOUR life. Maybe a pattern that shows the wind and rain, or the pattern of bricks on your house, or the shapes made by water...
Get ideas from these cavepaintings around the world or download these 3 worksheets:
People
Many people can be seen in Cave Paintings, all doing different things. There are few details of their faces, clothes or homes, but it is still possible to work out quite a lot about their lives from the actions the people are doing.
Activity 1. See how many actions or activities you can find in the cave drawings shown here
Activity 2. Think of an activity you do; maybe going to the park or having a bbq in your garden. Draw some people doing that activity in the style that cave people used.
Animals
All kinds of animals are drawn in Cave Paintings, but as you would expect, the type of animal is different in caves around the world depending on the animals that lived in that country. Some of the animals are very detailed and others are more like "stick-animals" and cartoons.
Activity 1. Create some magical animals and draw them in the style of the ones in the photos.
Activity 2. What animals do you think would be drawn on a cave near where you live? Have a go at drawing them.
Close ups of animals from cave paintings:
