cave art

American  

noun

1. paintings and engravings on the walls of caves and rock-shelters, especially naturalistic depictions of animals, produced by Upper Paleolithic peoples of western Europe between about 28,000 and 10,000 years ago.

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Etymology

Origin of cave art

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Spectacular Ice Age cave art in places like Altamira and El Castillo encouraged the idea that symbolism and art switched on almost overnight in Ice Age Europe.

From BBC • Jan. 21, 2026

During this period, new cultural elements emerged in various realms, including tool technology, food acquisition, seafaring, and artistic expression in ornaments and cave art.

From Science Daily • Feb. 7, 2024

“The whole thing is unconvincing,” says archaeologist João Zilhão of the University of Barcelona, who has proposed that Neanderthals made early cave art.

From Science Magazine • Jun. 4, 2023

It’s always been that other cave art throughout Europe has been used to situate Europe as the kind of birthplace of fine art.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 28, 2022

They took piles of books out of the library They found out about cave art in France, about papyrus scrolls in Egypt, about Mayan petroglyphs in Mexico, and about stone tablets from the Middle East.

From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett