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

See Examples For:

cave art

Around the world, volunteers have helped monitor bird populations, rediscover lost species, and even uncover ancient writing systems through cave art.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026

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

The cave art provides a rare glimpse of a culture that may have relied on this design to communicate valuable insights across generations during a period of climactic shifts.

From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2024

Haring made uninflected linear drawings almost exclusively glyphs and pictographs, like Paleolithic cave art with an agitated urban edge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2023

The only break in the cave art is where a large painting hangs without a frame.

From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson