c. 16,000 BCEReputable sourceWell documented
The Cave Paintings of Lascaux
On the timeline · around c. 16,000 BCE · Prehistoric Art
What happened
Deep inside a cave at Lascaux in southwestern France, Upper Palaeolithic people painted some 600 images — mostly horses, deer, aurochs, and bison — in flowing compositions, using pigments of ochre, charcoal, and manganese. The paintings date to roughly 17,000–15,000 BCE.
Why it matters
Lascaux and other Ice Age caves are among the oldest known art, evidence that the human impulse to represent the world in images reaches back tens of thousands of years.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Lascaux Cave · Reputable source