Cueva de las Manos - Wikipedia
## Cueva de las Manos - Wikipedia ![Example Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for Cave of the Hands or Cave of Hands) is a cave and complex of rock art sites in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, 163 km (101 mi) south of the town of Perito Moreno. It is named for the hundreds of paintings of hands stenciled, in multiple collages, on the rock walls. The art was created in several waves between 7,300 BC and 700 AD, during the Archaic period of pre-Columbian South America. The age of the paintings was calculated from the remains of bone pipes used for spraying the paint on the wall of the cave to create the artwork, radiocarbon dating of the artwork, and stratigraphic dating. The site is considered by some scholars to be the best material evidence of early South American hunter-gatherer groups. Argentine surveyor and archaeologist Carlos J. Gradin and his team conducted the most important research on the site in 1964, when they began excavating sites during a 30-year study of cave art in and around Cueva de las Manos. The site is a National Historic Monument in Argentina and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Padah-Lin Caves - Wikipedia
## Padah-Lin Caves - Wikipedia ![Example The Padah-Lin Caves (Burmese: ဗဒလင်းဂူ, pronounced [bədəlíɰ̃ ɡù]; also Padalin or Badalin) are limestone caves located in Taunggyi District, Shan State, Burma (Myanmar). It is located near a path from Nyaunggyat to Yebock, on a spur of the Nwalabo mountains within the Panlaung Reserved Forest. There are two caves; the smaller of the two is a rock shelter while the larger cave comprises nine chambers connected by narrow passages in a north-south axis, three large sinkholes that let natural light in, and several active speleothem formations.

Caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst - Wikipedia
## Caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst - Wikipedia ![Example The caves in the Maros-Pangkep karst are situated in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and contain paintings from the Paleolithic considered to be the earliest figurative art in the world, dated to at least 43,900 years ago.

Cave of Maltravieso - Wikipedia
## Cave of Maltravieso - Wikipedia ![Example The Cave of Maltravieso in Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain, was discovered in 1951. It shows traces of human occupation from the Middle Paleolithic. It contains cave art, most notably a total of 71 hand stencils, enumerated in the 1990s using ultraviolet photography, but also linear designs and some animal paintings. In a 2018 study based on uranium-thorium dating, a hand stencil from the Cave of Maltravieso was dated to 64,000 years ago. This would make it Middle Paleolithic art, predating the presence of European early modern humans, with important implications for Neanderthal behavior.A visitor center, the Centro de interpretación de la Cueva de Maltravieso, opened in 1999. Other nearby Paleolithic caves are those of El Conejar, Santa Ana and Castañar de Ibor.

Cave of La Pasiega - Wikipedia
## Cave of La Pasiega - Wikipedia ![Example Cueva de La Pasiega, or Cave of La Pasiega, situated in the Spanish municipality of Puente Viesgo, is one of the most important monuments of Paleolithic art in Cantabria. It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since July 2008, as part of the inscription: Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain.The cave is located in the heart of the uniprovincial community, in the middle of the Pas River valley, around the cave of Hornos de la Pena and Monte Castillo, in the same group of caves as Las Monedas, Las Chimeneas, and the cave of El Castillo. The caves of Monte Castillo form an amazingly complete series, both as regards the material culture of the Old Stone Age and from an artistic point of view. La Pasiega is basically an enormous gallery, its known extent more than 120 meters, that runs more or less parallel to the slope of the mount, opening to the surface at six different places: six small mouths, the majority obstructed, of which two can be accessed for inspection. The principal gallery is approximately 70 meters and opens to deeper secondary galleries, winding and labyrinthine, which in places broaden out to form large chambers. Thus one refers to "room II-VIII", the room called "Gallery B", or "room 11" of "Gallery C", all with paleolithic decorations. The recorded remains belong mainly to the Upper Solutrean and the Lower Magdalenian ages, although older objects are also found. In 2018 uranium-thorium dating revealed a scalariform (ladder shaped) symbol to be older than 64,000 years and therefore made by Neanderthals. Throughout the cave are many 'walls' with paintings and with engraved or incised images. There are representations of equines (horses), cervids (deer, male and female) and bovines (cattle). There are also many abstract symbols (idiomorphs), suggesting patterns of repeated characters.

Lubang Jeriji Saléh - Wikipedia
## Lubang Jeriji Saléh - Wikipedia ![Example Lubang Jeriji Saleh is a limestone cave complex in Indonesia in the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat Karst located in the remote jungle of Bengalon district in East Kutai, East Kalimantan province on Borneo island. In a 2018 publication a team of researchers announced to have found the then-oldest known work of figurative art in the world among the cave paintings, at 40,000 years old. However, the same team has since found and dated an elaborate therianthrope rock art panel in the Leang Bulu’ Sipong 4 cave in Sulawesi's Maros-Pangkep karst to around 44,000 years old, older than the figurative art in Lubang Jeriji Saleh.

Chauvet Cave - Wikipedia
## Chauvet Cave - Wikipedia ![Example The Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave (French: Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc, French pronunciation: [ɡʁɔt ʃovɛ pɔ̃ daʁk]) in the Ardèche department of southeastern France is a cave that contains some of the best-preserved figurative cave paintings in the world, as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life. It is located near the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc on a limestone cliff above the former bed of the river Ardèche, in the Gorges de l'Ardèche. Discovered on December 18, 1994, it is considered one of the most significant prehistoric art sites and the UN's cultural agency UNESCO granted it World Heritage status on June 22, 2014. The cave was first explored by a group of three speleologists: Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet for whom it was named six months after an aperture now known as "Le Trou de Baba" ("Baba's Hole") was discovered by Michel Rosa (Baba). At a later date the group returned to the cave. Another member of this group, Michel Chabaud, along with two others, travelled further into the cave and discovered the Gallery of the Lions, the End Chamber. Chauvet has his own detailed account of the discovery. In addition to the paintings and other human evidence, they also discovered fossilized remains, prints, and markings from a variety of animals, some of which are now extinct. Further study by French archaeologist Jean Clottes has revealed much about the site. The dates have been a matter of dispute but a study published in 2012 supports placing the art in the Aurignacian period, approximately 32,000–30,000 years ago. A study published in 2016 using additional 88 radiocarbon dates showed two periods of habitation, one 37,000 to 33,500 years ago and the second from 31,000 to 28,000 years ago, with most of the black drawings dating to the earlier period.

Coliboaia Cave - Wikipedia
## Coliboaia Cave - Wikipedia ![Example Coliboaia Cave (Romanian: Peștera Coliboaia, pronounced [koliˈbo̯aja]) is located in Apuseni Natural Park, Câmpani, Bihor County, Romania. It may contain the oldest known cave paintings of Central Europe, radiocarbon dated to 32,000 and 35,000 years BP, corresponding to the Aurignacian and Gravettian cultures of the Paleolithic period.

Acacus Mountains - Wikipedia
## Acacus Mountains - Wikipedia ![Example The Acacus Mountains or Tadrart Akakus (Arabic: تدرارت أكاكوس / ALA-LC: Tadrārt Akākūs) form a mountain range in the desert of the Ghat District in western Libya, part of the Sahara. They are situated east of the city of Ghat, Libya, and stretch north from the border with Algeria, about 100 kilometres (62 mi). The area has a particularly rich array of prehistoric rock art.

Lascaux - Wikipedia
## Lascaux - Wikipedia ![Example Lascaux (English: la-SKOH, US also lah-SKOH; French: Grotte de Lascaux [ɡʁɔt də lasko], "Lascaux Cave") is a network of caves near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne in southwestern France. Over 600 parietal wall paintings cover the interior walls and ceilings of the cave. The paintings represent primarily large animals, typical local contemporary fauna that correspond with the fossil record of the Upper Paleolithic in the area. They are the combined effort of many generations and, with continued debate, the age of the paintings is now usually estimated at around 17,000 years (early Magdalenian). Because of the outstanding prehistoric art in the cave, Lascaux was inducted into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979, as an element of the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley.The original caves have been closed to the public since 1963, as their condition was deteriorating, but there are now a number of replicas.

Cave of Altamira - Wikipedia
## Cave of Altamira - Wikipedia ![Example The Cave of Altamira ( AL-tə-MEER-ə; Spanish: Cueva de Altamira [ˈkweβa ðe altaˈmiɾa]) is a cave complex, located near the historic town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, Spain. It is renowned for prehistoric cave art featuring charcoal drawings and polychrome paintings of contemporary local fauna and human hands. The earliest paintings were applied during the Upper Paleolithic, around 36,000 years ago. The site was discovered in 1868 by Modesto Cubillas and subsequently studied by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola.Aside from the striking quality of its polychromatic art, Altamira's fame stems from the fact that its paintings were the first European cave paintings for which a prehistoric origin was suggested and promoted. Sautuola published his research with the support of Juan de Vilanova y Piera in 1880, to initial public acclaim. However, the publication of Sanz de Sautuola's research quickly led to a bitter public controversy among experts, some of whom rejected the prehistoric origin of the paintings on the grounds that prehistoric human beings lacked sufficient ability for abstract thought. The controversy continued until 1902, by which time reports of similar findings of prehistoric paintings in the Franco-Cantabrian region had accumulated and the evidence could no longer be rejected.Altamira is located in the Franco-Cantabrian region and in 1985 was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as a key location of the Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain. The cave can no longer be visited, for conservation reasons, but there are replicas of a section at the site and elsewhere.

Roca dels Moros - Wikipedia
## Roca dels Moros - Wikipedia ![Example The Roca dels Moros or Caves of El Cogul is a rock shelter containing paintings of prehistoric Levantine rock art and Iberian schematic art. The site is in El Cogul, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. Since 1998 the paintings have been protected as part of the Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Inscriptions in Northeastern Iberian script and in Latin alphabet indicate that the place was used as a sanctuary into Iberian and Roman times.

Cuevas de la Araña - Wikipedia
## Cuevas de la Araña - Wikipedia ![Example The Coves de l'Aranya (in original Catalan language, known in English as the Spider Caves and in Spanish Cuevas de la Araña) are a group of caves in the municipality of Bicorp in València, eastern Spain. The caves are in the valley of the river Escalona and were used by prehistoric people who left rock art. They are known for painted images of a bow and arrow goat hunt and for a scene depicting a human figure foraging honey, the earliest known depiction of bees and the oldest evidence of honey consumption by Homo sapiens. The dating of such art is controversial, but the famous honey-gathering painting is believed to be epipaleolithic and is estimated to be around 8000 years old.The caves were discovered in the early twentieth century by a local teacher, Jaume Garí i Poch. They are included in the World Heritage Site Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin.

Kapova Cave - Wikipedia
## Kapova Cave - Wikipedia ![Example Kapova cave (Russian: Капова пещера, tr. Kopova peshchera, also known as Shul'gan-Tash, Bashkir: Шүлгәнташ, romanized: Shylgəntash) is a limestone karst cave in the Burzyansky District of Bashkortostan, Russia, ca. 200 km (120 mi) south-east of Ufa, in the southern Ural mountains. Located on the Belaya River in the natural reserve Shulgan-Tash, the cave is best known for the 16,000 years old Upper Paleolithic rock paintings and drawings. It contains the northernmost known ancient paintings.

Cave of El Castillo - Wikipedia
## Cave of El Castillo - Wikipedia ![Example The Cueva del Castillo, or Cave of the Castle, is an archaeological site within the complex of the Caves of Monte Castillo, in Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, Spain. The archaeological stratigraphy has been divided into around 19 layers, depending on the source they slightly deviate from each other, however the overall sequence is consistent, beginning in the Proto-Aurignacian, and ending in the Bronze Age.The El Castillo cave contains the oldest known cave painting: a large red stippled disk in the Panel de las Manos was dated to more than 40,000 years old using uranium-thorium dating in a 2012 study. This is consistent with the tradition of cave painting originating in the Proto-Aurignacian, with the first arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe. A 2013 study of finger length ratios in Upper Paleolithic hand stencils found in France and Spain determined that the majority were of female hands, overturning the previous widely held belief that this art form was primarily a male activity.Cueva del Castillo was discovered in 1903 by Hermilio Alcalde del Río, a Spanish archaeologist, who was one of the pioneers in the study of the earliest cave paintings of Cantabria. The entrance to the cave was smaller in the past and has been enlarged as a result of archaeological excavations. Alcalde del Río found an extensive sequence of images executed in charcoal and red ochre on the walls and ceilings of multiple caverns. The paintings and numerous markings and graffiti span from the Lower Paleolithic to the Bronze Age, and even into the Middle Ages. There are over 150 depictions already catalogued, including those that emphasize the engravings of a few deer, complete with shadowing.

Caves of Arcy-sur-Cure - Wikipedia
## Caves of Arcy-sur-Cure - Wikipedia ![Example The caves of Arcy-sur-Cure are a series of caves located on the commune of Arcy-sur-Cure, Burgundy, France. Some of them contained archaeological artefacts, from the Mousterian to Gallo-Roman times. Some hold remarkable parietal art, the second oldest presently known after those of the Chauvet cave. Another notable characteristic of these caves is the time-long series of pollen, related to determined and consistent archaeological levels.Between 1947 and 1963, they were searched by the French prehistorians Arlette and André Leroi-Gourhan. Listed monument historique (Heritage Monument) in 1992, they are partially open to the public.

Cosquer Cave - Wikipedia
## Cosquer Cave - Wikipedia ![Example The Cosquer Cave is located in the Calanque de Morgiou in Marseille, France, near Cap Morgiou. The entrance to the cave is located 37 m (121 ft) underwater, due to the Holocene sea level rise. The cave contains various prehistoric rock art engravings. Its submarine entrance was discovered in 1985 by Henri Cosquer, a professional diver. The underwater passage leading to the cave was progressively explored until 1990 by cave divers without the divers being aware of the archaeological character of the cave. It is only in the last period (1990-1991) of the progressive underwater explorations that the cave divers emerged in the non-submerged part of the cave. The prehistoric paintings were not immediately discovered by the divers to first emerge from the other side of the sump. The cave was named after Henri Cosquer, when its existence was made public in 1991, after three divers became lost in the cave and died.

Caves of Gargas - Wikipedia
## Caves of Gargas - Wikipedia ![Example The Caves of Gargas (French: Grottes de Gargas, French pronunciation: [ɡʁɔt də ɡaʁɡas]) in the Pyrenees region of France are known for their cave art from the Upper Paleolithic period - about 27,000 years old. The caves are open to the public.

Grotte de Cussac - Wikipedia
## Grotte de Cussac - Wikipedia ![Example The Grotte de Cussac (French pronunciation: [ɡʁɔt də kysak]) is a cave located in the Dordogne river valley in Le Buisson-de-Cadouin, Dordogne, Aquitaine, France. It contains over 150 Paleolithic artworks, including engravings of bison, horses, mammoths, rhinoceroses, ibex, birds, enigmatic figures, and perhaps four female profiles, including one apparently notable for a rubenesque form common to pre-modern art. The cave's human remains, which include at least five individuals (four adults and a teenager), represent one of the few associations of parietal works and human burials in Paleolithic Europe. The bones have been dated using carbon-14 measurements to approximately 25,000 years in age. The cave was discovered on September 30, 2000, by amateur speleologist Marc Delluc and announced by the French Ministry of Culture on December 8, 2000. The cave is currently under protection for scientific study and is not open to the public. The cave's artworks, estimated to be 25,000 years old, are almost exclusively engravings, often very large, made with stone tools on the walls or with fingers on clay soil. Pigments are limited to very few red dots. The art is similar in theme and style to that found in the Quercy caves, particularly Pech Merle.

Pech Merle - Wikipedia
## Pech Merle - Wikipedia ![Example Pech Merle is a cave which opens onto a hillside at Cabrerets in the Lot département of the Occitania region in France, about 32 km by road east of Cahors. It is one of the few prehistoric cave painting sites in France that remain open to the general public. Extending over 2 kilometres over two levels, of which only 1,200 m (3,900 ft) are open to the public, are caverns, wells and sloping tunnels, the walls of which are painted with dramatic murals dating from the Gravettian culture (some 25,000 years BC). Some of the paintings and engravings, however, may date from the later Magdalenian era (16,000 years BC). This cave was created over 2 million years ago by an underground river, cutting channels which were later used by humans for shelter and eventually for mural painting. The galleries are mostly dry, 10 meters wide on average. The height under the vault is between 5 and 10 meters high. The cave art located in the deeper areas of the cave was discovered in 1922 by Marthe David, age 13; her brother Andre David, age 16 and Henri Dutetre, age 15.The three teenagers had been exploring the cave for two years. Like other children of the area, these three had been encouraged and assisted in their exploration by Father Amedee Lemozi, the curate of Cabrerets and an amateur archaeologist who had discovered other cave paintings in the region.The walls of seven of the chambers at Pech Merle have fresh, lifelike images of woolly mammoth, spotted horses, single colour horses, bovids, reindeer, handprints, and some humans. Footprints of children, preserved in what was once clay, have been found more than 800 m (2,600 ft) underground. In 2013 the Tracking in Caves-project tested experience based reading of prehistoric footprints by specialised trackers of Ju/'hoansi San with great success. Within a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius of the site are ten other caves with prehistoric art of the Upper Palaeolithic period, but none of these are open to the public. During the Ice Age the caves were very probably used as places of refuge by prehistoric peoples when the area had an Arctic climate, very cold temperatures, and native animal species very different from those of the present day. It is supposed that, at some point in the past, rain and sliding earth covered the cave entrances with an airtight seal until the 20th century. Experimental reconstruction work by French archaeologist Michel Lorblanchet has suggested that the application of the paint for some of the paintings was probably by means of a delicate spitting technique. The cave at Pech Merle has been open to the public since 1926. Visiting groups are limited in size and number so as not to destroy the delicate artwork with the excessive humidity, heat and carbon dioxide produced by breathing.

Cave of Niaux - Wikipedia
## Cave of Niaux - Wikipedia ![Example The Cave of Niaux (French: Grotte de Niaux) is located in the Niaux commune, Ariège département in southwestern France as part of a wider geological system that includes the Sabart Cave and Lombrives Cave in the hill of Cap de la Lesse de Bialac. The Niaux Cave's system is complex and has a combined length of more than 14 km (8.70 mi) of underground passages and chambers. An archaeological site with a documented history of Paleo-human presence, Niaux contains numerous distinct areas and galleries of carefully drawn and vivid wall paintings, executed in a black-outlined style typical of the classic Magdalenian period, between 17,000 and 11,000 years ago.

Font-de-Gaume - Wikipedia
## Font-de-Gaume - Wikipedia ![Example Font-de-Gaume is a cave near Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil in the Dordogne department of south-west France. The cave contains prehistoric polychrome cave paintings and engravings dating to the Magdalenian period. Discovered in 1901, more than 200 images have been identified in Font-de-Gaume. Along with other nearby prehistoric archeological sites, Font-de-Gaume was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 as the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley.

Badanj Cave - Wikipedia
## Badanj Cave - Wikipedia ![Example Badanj Cave (Bosnian: Pećina Badanj) is located in Borojevići village near the town of Stolac, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This rather small cave has come to public attention after the 1976 discovery of its cave engravings, that date to between 12,000 and 16,000 BC.Thanks to local natural benefits and preferable composition, topography, climate, hydrography and vegetation and rich hunting grounds have long attracted prehistoric settlers: the region has been settled since antiquity. The site is rock shelter or overhang recessed beneath a cliff that descends to the right bank of the river Bregava.Two chronologically distinct strata of Palaeolithic occupation were identified beneath the surface layer. Of particular significance was the discovery of a particular carving of the Badanj site, as it ranks among the oldest works of art in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The carving is cut into the diagonal surface of a large polished block of stone, and probably represents a horse seen from the offside flank that has been hit by arrows. Only the rear half of the body survives, with flanks typical for a horse and part of the body; the rest of the drawing has been partly damaged.The Badanj carvings include depictions of animals and symbols, as is typical of Mediterranean prehistoric art. The site was dated to the late Upper Palaeolithic. The cave is part of The Natural and Architectural Ensemble of Stolac, submitted by the Stolac municipality, and the Herzegovina-Neretva county to be recognized a UNESCO heritage site in 2007 and inducted into UNESCO's tentative list. It has also been designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2003.

La Marche (cave) - Wikipedia
## La Marche (cave) - Wikipedia ![Example La Marche is a cave and archaeological site located in Lussac-les-Châteaux, a commune in the department of Vienne, western France. It is an archaeological site that has engendered much debate that has not been resolved to date. The carved etchings discovered there in 1937 show detailed depictions of humans and animals that may be 15,000 years old. The cave paintings at this site, however, are controversial and many doubt their authenticity.

Les Combarelles - Wikipedia
## Les Combarelles - Wikipedia ![Example Les Combarelles is a cave in Les Eyzies de Tayac, Dordogne, France, which was inhabited by Cro-Magnon people between approximately 13,000 to 11,000 years ago. Holding more than 600 prehistoric engravings of animals and symbols, the two galleries in the cave were crucial in the re-evaluation of the mental and technical capabilities of these prehistoric humans around the turn of the 20th century. In 1979, along with other nearby paleolithic sites and cave paintings, the cave was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley.Formed by an underground river, the cave is approximately 300 m (980 ft) long with an average width of 1 m (3.3 ft).

Cave of the Trois-Frères - Wikipedia
## Cave of the Trois-Frères - Wikipedia ![Example The Cave of the Trois-Frères is a cave in southwestern France famous for its cave paintings. It is located in Montesquieu-Avantès, in the Ariège département. The cave is named for three brothers (French: trois frères, pronounced [tʁwɑ fʁɛʁ]), Max, Jacques, and Louis Begouën, who, along with their father Comte Henri Begouën, discovered it in 1914. The drawings of the cave were made famous in the publications of the Abbé Henri Breuil. The cave art appears to date to approximately 13,000 BC.

Magura Cave - Wikipedia
## Magura Cave - Wikipedia ![Example The Magura Cave (Bulgarian "пещера Магура") is located in north-western Bulgaria close to the village of Rabisha, 25 km (16 mi) from the town of Belogradchik in Vidin Province. The prehistoric wall paintings of Magura have great resemblance with those of the Grotta dei Cervi in Italy, which are of exceptional expression and artistic depth and are considered the most significant works of art of the European Post-Paleolithic era.Guided visits are conducted by the staff of Belogradchik municipality, to which the management of the cave was transferred in 2012 by the Bulgarian Council of Ministers. In 1984, the site was inducted into UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage.

Solsem cave - Wikipedia
## Solsem cave - Wikipedia ![Example The Solsem cave is a cave lying to the southwest of the island of Leka in Leka municipality in Trøndelag, Norway. The cave is well known for its cave paintings, which were discovered in 1912. For a long time, they were the only known cave paintings in Norway.To date, over twenty figures have been found painted on the cave walls. The main group consists of 13 human figures to the left of a large cross. The leading interpretation is that the images either depict a type of ritual dance performed by those who used the cave, or that the figures represent the people or powers that inhabited the rock.

Creswell Crags - Wikipedia
## Creswell Crags - Wikipedia ![Example Creswell Crags is an enclosed limestone gorge on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, England, near the villages of Creswell and Whitwell. The cliffs in the ravine contain several caves that were occupied during the last ice age, between around 43,000 and 10,000 years ago. Its caves contain the northernmost cave art in Europe. The evidence of occupation found in the rich series of sediments that accumulated over many thousands of years is regarded as internationally unique in demonstrating how prehistoric people managed to live at the extreme northernmost limits of their territory during the Late Pleistocene period.The caves contain occupation layers with evidence of flint tools from the Mousterian, proto-Solutrean, Creswellian and Maglemosian cultures. They were seasonally occupied by nomadic groups of people during the Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods. Evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age, Roman and post-medieval activity has also been found there. There is evidence of Neanderthal occupation 50,000–60,000 years ago, a brief Gravettian occupation around 32,000 years ago and use of all the main caves during the Magdalenian around 14,000 years ago. The site is open to the public and has a visitor centre with a small museum of objects associated with the caves, including a stuffed cave hyena. As a result of its unique features, Creswell Crags has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). It has also been put forward as a potential World Heritage Site. In 2005–06, the B6042 road was re-routed from its path through the gorge, by approximately 150 metres (160 yd) to the north, to minimise traffic impact on the site.

Ambadevi rock shelters - Wikipedia
## Ambadevi rock shelters - Wikipedia ![Example The Ambadevi rock shelters are part of an extensive cave site, where the oldest yet known traces of human life in the central province of the Indian subcontinent were discovered. The site is located in the Satpura Range of the Gawilgarh Hills in Betul District of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, north of Dharul village in Amravati district of Maharashtra. Studies of various rock paintings and petroglyphs present in the caves suggest, that the Ambadevi rock shelters were inhabited by prehistoric human settlers since around 25,000 years ago. First discoveries of clusters of numerous rock shelters and caves were made by Vijay Ingole and his team beginning on 27 January 2007. Named after the nearby ancient Ambadevi Cave Temple, the site has also been referred to as the Satpura-Tapti valley caves and the Gavilgarh-Betul rock shelters. The Ambadevi rock shelters rank among the most important archaeological discoveries of the early 21st Century in India, on par with the 20th Century discovery of the Bhimbetka rock shelters.

Bhimbetka rock shelters - Wikipedia
## Bhimbetka rock shelters - Wikipedia ![Example The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period. It exhibits the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of the Stone Age starting at the site in Acheulian times. It is located in the Raisen District in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, about 45 kilometres (28 mi) south-east of Bhopal. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that consists of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters distributed over 10 km (6.2 mi). At least some of the shelters were inhabited more than 100,000 years ago.The rock shelters and caves provide evidence of human settlement and the cultural evolution from hunter-gatherers to agriculture, and expressions of prehistoric spirituality.Some of the Bhimbetka rock shelters feature prehistoric cave paintings and the earliest are dated to 10,000 BCE, corresponding to the Indian Mesolithic. These cave paintings show themes such as animals, early evidence of dance and hunting from the Stone Age as well as of warriors on horseback from a later time (perhaps the Bronze Age). The Bhimbetka site has the oldest-known rock art in India, as well as is one of the largest prehistoric complexes.

Dhambalin - Wikipedia
## Dhambalin - Wikipedia ![Example Dhambalin ("half, vertically cut mountain") is an archaeological site in the central Sahil province of Somaliland. The sandstone rock shelter contains rock art depicting various animals such as horned cattle and goats, as well as giraffes, an animal no longer found in the country. The site also features the earliest known pictures of sheep in Somaliland. Discovered in autumn 2007, residents of Beenyo Dhaadheer reported the rock art to the Somali archaeologist Sada Mire, Director of the Department of Archaeology within the Ministry of Tourism and Culture of Somaliland.The archaeological site is dated to about 5000 years ago. The images provide an important link to the rock art of the Horn of Africa, particularly in their representation of its pastoral cultures and fauna.The site is endangered because of a lack of adequate security arrangements. Though the archaeological study has been done with funding by the UN, the site's recognition as UNESCO World Heritage Site is not feasible at this stage as Somaliland is not recognized as an independent nation, and also not ratified the 1972 World Heritage Convention.

Blombos Cave - Wikipedia
## Blombos Cave - Wikipedia ![Example Blombos Cave is an archaeological site located in Blombos Private Nature Reserve, about 300 km east of Cape Town on the Southern Cape coastline, South Africa. The cave contains Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits currently dated at between c. 100,000 and 70,000 years Before Present (BP), and a Late Stone Age sequence dated at between 2000 and 300 years BP. The cave site was first excavated in 1991 and field work has been conducted there on a regular basis since 1997, and is ongoing.The excavations at Blombos Cave have yielded important new information on the behavioural evolution of anatomically modern humans. The archaeological record from this cave site has been central in the ongoing debate on the cognitive and cultural origin of early humans and to the current understanding of when and where key behavioural innovations emerged among Homo sapiens in southern Africa during the Late Pleistocene. Archaeological material and faunal remains recovered from the Middle Stone Age phase in Blombos Cave – dated to ca. 100,000–70,000 years BP – are considered to represent greater ecological niche adaptation, a more diverse set of subsistence and procurements strategies, adoption of multi-step technology and manufacture of composite tools, stylistic elaboration, increased economic and social organisation and occurrence of symbolically mediated behaviour. The most informative archaeological material from Blombos Cave includes engraved ochre, engraved bone ochre processing kits, marine shell beads, refined bone and stone tools and a broad range of terrestrial and marine faunal remains, including shellfish, birds, tortoise and ostrich egg shell, and mammals of various sizes. These findings, together with subsequent re-analysis and excavation of other Middle Stone Age sites in southern Africa, have resulted in a paradigm shift with regard to the understanding of the timing and location of the development of modern human behaviour. On 29 May 2015 Heritage Western Cape formally protected the site as a provincial heritage site.Cross-hatching done in ochre on a stone fragment found at Blombos Cave is believed to be the earliest known drawing done by a human in the world.

Apollo 11 Cave - Wikipedia
## Apollo 11 Cave - Wikipedia ![Example The Apollo 11 Cave is an archeological site in the ǁKaras Region of south-western Namibia, approximately 250 km (160 mi) southwest of Keetmanshoop. The name given to the surrounding area and presumably the cave by the Nama people was "Goachanas". However, the cave was given its name by German archaeologist Wolfgang Erich Wendt in reference to Apollo 11's then recent return to Earth.

Tabon Caves - Wikipedia
## Tabon Caves - Wikipedia ![Example The Tabon Caves is a cave system located in Lipuun Point, Panitian, Quezon, Palawan in the Philippines. Dubbed as the country's "cradle of civilization", it is a site of archaeological importance due to the number of jar burials and prehistoric human remains found starting from the 1960s, most notably the Tabon Man. The system is a part of the Lipuun Point Reservation, which has been protected by the Philippine government as a museum reservation to protect the caves and its immediate vicinity from deforestation and to preserve the cultural artifacts present there.The caves are named after the Tabon scrubfowl. It is bordered on the south by the town proper of Quezon, Panitian on the west, and the South China Sea on the north and east. Out of 215 known caves, 29 have been fully explored, with seven of them publicly accessible. Other excavated, unexamined remains are stored onsite. In 2006, the site, collectively named as Tabon Cave Complex and all of Lipuun, was added to the tentative list of the Philippines for future UNESCO World Heritage Site nomination. The complex is managed by the National Museum of the Philippines and was declared as a National Cultural Treasure by the same institution in February 2011.

Edakkal caves - Wikipedia
## Edakkal caves - Wikipedia ![Example The Edakkal caves are two natural caves at a remote location at Edakkal, 25 km (15.5 mi) from Kalpetta in the Wayanad district of Kerala in India. They lie 1,200 m (3,900 ft) above sea level on Ambukutty Mala, near an ancient trade route connecting the high mountains of Mysore to the ports of the Malabar Coast. Inside the caves are pictorial writings believed to date to at least 6,000 BCE, from the Neolithic man, indicating the presence of a prehistoric settlement in this region. The Stone Age carvings of Edakkal are rare and are the only known examples from South India besides those of Shenthurini, Kollam, also in Kerala. The cave paintings of Shenthurini (Shendurney) forests in Kerala are of the Mesolithic era (middle stone-age).

Laas Geel - Wikipedia
## Laas Geel - Wikipedia ![Example Laas Geel (Somali: Laas Geel), also spelled Laas Gaal, are cave formations on the rural outskirts of Hargeisa, Somaliland, situated in the Maroodi Jeex region of the country. They contain some of the earliest known cave paintings of domesticated cattle, which some argue may represent domesticated African aurochs (Bos primigenius africanus), in the Horn of Africa. Laas Geel's rock art is estimated to date to circa 3,500-2,500 BCE.

Mesak Settafet - Wikipedia
## Mesak Settafet - Wikipedia ![Example Mesak Settafet is a massive sandstone escarpment in southwest Libya. It sits at an elevation of up to 300 metres (980 ft). The outcropping is abundant in prehistoric rock art and stone tools, particularly at the Wadi Mathendous site.

Cave of Swimmers - Wikipedia
## Cave of Swimmers - Wikipedia ![Example The Cave of Swimmers is a cave with ancient rock art in the mountainous Gilf Kebir plateau of the Libyan Desert section of the Sahara. It is located in the New Valley Governorate of southwest Egypt, near the border with Libya.

Cave of Beasts - Wikipedia
## Cave of Beasts - Wikipedia ![Example The Cave of the Beasts (also named Foggini-Mestikawi Cave or Foggini Cave or Cave Wadi Sura II) is a huge natural rock shelter in the Western Desert of Egypt featuring Neolithic rock paintings, more than 7,000 years old, with about 5,000 figures.

Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park - Wikipedia
## Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park - Wikipedia ![Example Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park is a unit in the state park system of California, United States, preserving a small sandstone cave adorned with rock art attributed to the Chumash people. Adjoining the small community of Painted Cave, the site is located about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of California State Route 154 and 11 miles (18 km) northwest of Santa Barbara. The 7.5-acre (3.0 ha) park was established in 1976. The smooth and irregularly shaped shallow sandstone cave contains numerous drawings apparently depicting the Chumash cosmology and other subjects created in mineral pigments and other media over a long period ranging from about 200 up to possibly 1000 years or more. There is also evidence of graffiti beginning with early white settlers, which eventually led to creation of a protective physical barrier and State Historic Park status. In 1972 it was added as Site #72000256 on the National Register of Historic Places.Access is from State Route 154 about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of U.S. Route 101 in the San Marcos Pass in the Santa Ynez Mountains, on Painted Cave Road. The cave is adjacent to the left side of this narrow one-lane mountain road, with a slightly widened shoulder that provides parking for one or two vehicles. The drive is not appropriate for trailers and RVs, due to some very tight turns and steep sections. This park is one of the few providing open access for viewing original rock art of the Chumash people in person. Flash photographs are prohibited since they can harm the artwork; some people use flashlights to help view the art, and some take photographs with long exposures with the camera braced on the metal gate or using a tripod.