The cave paintings that have been discovered in Europe are about 22,000 years old. The colours used were actually rubbed across the walls of caves with a range of sharpened lumps of dried, solid earth.  These could produce a number of colours from yellow, to brown, ochre and red.

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The outlines of the drawings were made using charcoal from the fires that burned in every encampment.

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Archaeologists have also found dishes in some of these caves which appear to have been used as mixing palettes. Liquid colouring, or pigment, was mixed with fat to make it stick and the resulting ‘paint’ was smeared on the walls with the hands. 

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Some examples of more advanced artwork have been found in the Altamira Cave near the town of Santilla Del Mar, in Spain and in Lascaux in France. Both caves show subtle shades and tones in the colouring of animals and this is thought to have been made using fur to apply the paint.  It also looks as though feathers and sticks have been used to get the effect of manes and tails on animals.

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The Altamira Cave was discovered purely by accident, by a Spanish hunter, named Modesto Cubillas and in 1985 it was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO. The cave itself has a number of chambers but the main one, artistically speaking, is about 17 metres by 8 metres in size. The main paintings are on the ceiling and they show bison, horses, deer, two boars and various hand prints, in ochre, red and black. The colours are limited by the pigment available from the earth around the cave area.

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At Lascaux there are a number of the caves and the cave paintings were discovered in 1940 by four teenagers. The site was originally open to the public but the carbon dioxide created by more that 1000 visitors per day started to damage the paintings, so it was closed in 1963.  The paintings were then restored. Replicas have now been made which enable visitors to see what the paintings would have looked like, but this could never be the same as seeing the originals. Visitors can view copies of the Great Hall of Bulls where 36 bulls including 4 black ones decorate the cave walls.

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Experts say that the pigments in these limestone caves may have been preserved by the damp atmosphere. Rainwater seeping in through the rock has kept the ‘canvas’ moist, so the pigments have not dried out, turned to dust and fallen off.

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The ancient artists also made prints and stencils of hands. The detail in some of the artwork is amazing. There are women, warriors, bison, deer and other animals plus scenes of hunting, battle and ritual ceremonies. These amazing cave paintings provide a detailed record of life from as far back as 20,000 BC.