Primitive drawings. Primitive rock art

September 12, 1940 Four French teenagers accidentally stumble upon a narrow hole formed after a fall of a pine tree, which was struck by lightning. They decided that this was the exit from the underground passage leading to the nearby ruins of the castle, and hoped to find a treasure there. But when they got inside and saw huge drawings on the walls, they realized that this was not just an underground passage, and they reported their find to the teacher. This is how the Lascaux cave was discovered.

All the walls of the cave were completely covered with amazing drawings of animals - bulls, bison, rhinos, horses, deer, even a unicorn, painted with ocher, soot and marl (rock, like clay) and outlined in dark contours. Some of the drawings were real size!
The scientist A. Breil spent several months in this cave, making all kinds of measurements and studying primitive painting. At first, art historians doubted the authenticity of the drawings, but a thorough examination rejected all suspicions of forgery, and the age of the images was estimated at 15,000 years.

Very soon, many tourists began to come to the Lasko cave, and soon scientists noticed that the drawings were slowly beginning to collapse. This was due to the excess carbon dioxide exhaled by the people who visited the caves. Soon, tourists were no longer allowed into the Lasko cave and it was mothballed, and a copy of it, Lasko II, was created next to it. It is a concrete structure, inside of which the petroglyphs of selected parts of Lascaux were faithfully reproduced.

Osya and I really liked that on the official website you can take a virtual tour of the cave. In some places you can stop, zoom in on the drawing, examine it and read a short text about it (there is no Russian language on the site, but there is English). Here is the site: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/02_00.xml

The figures of animals are drawn mainly in profile, in motion. Interestingly, when several animals of different sizes and different colors accumulate in one scene at once, and at the same time they are drawn so that one figure overlaps another, then a cartoon feeling is created if you move the window on the site. Probably, the same effect will be if you move next to these drawings with a lantern in your hands, it's a pity that we can't check :)

There is only one image of a man on the walls of the cave: here you can see four figures combined into one compositional space - a bison pierced by a spear, a lying man, a small bird and a fuzzy silhouette of a receding rhinoceros. The bison stands in profile, but his head is turned towards the viewer. The man is depicted schematically, as in children's drawings. Everything is drawn with a thick black line and not filled with color. Scientists are still arguing what exactly is depicted in this picture: did the bison kill a man, and did the nasorok inflict a mortal wound on the bison? Or is it the other way around?

I showed Osa just such a picture and told that the paints were then mineral. The basis of black paint was manganese, and red - iron oxide. Pieces of minerals were ground into powder on stone slabs, or on animal bones, for example, on a bison shoulder blade. This colored powder was kept in hollowed out bones or leather pouches worn on the belt.

This picture shows an image of a huge bull. The figure of the right bull is the largest rock art in the world, its length is 5.2 meters.
To make it clearer what five meters is, we measured this distance in the apartment and figured out how huge the bull was.

Interestingly, in the Lascaux cave there is an image of a mythical animal - a unicorn:

But this big black bull, 3.71 meters long, is interesting in that it was painted with paint sprayed through a special tube:

What you can do if the child is interested in these drawings:

- you can take craft paper, wrinkle it properly (we didn’t guess right away, but when we came across a crumpled piece of wrapping paper, Osya himself noticed that it turns out to be more textured and the surface resembles the surface of a stone) and hang it on the wall to draw memorable ones on it figures in charcoal, sanguine or multi-colored pastel. And you can paint if the child does not want to get his hands dirty. Most importantly, do not forget to cover the floor around.

And you can make natural paints - from clay and berries, and paint animals with them. And then make a contour separately with charcoal.

You can also try painting with homemade brushes. Offer the child a small stick, some grass/flower stems, and some string. Will he guess what to do with them? And if you cut off the top layer from the sponge for washing dishes, then you can play that this is the skin of an animal that ancient people used to paint over a large area of ​​the picture. Shall we try?

To draw drawings, you can simply sit on a table or on the floor, or you can imagine that we are in a cave and draw on its walls and vaults. Once, when we were playing primitive people, we pasted over the place under the table with paper, and Osya left the rock carvings lying on his back.

This time we hung the drawings under the desk, then Osya filled up the entrance to the "cave" with cushions from the sofa, and we played as if we ourselves were walking and unexpectedly found such a treasure - a cave with ancient rock paintings. In the evening, when it was already dark, we turned off the light and climbed into the cave with lanterns and candles and looked at the images on the walls.

Traditionally, rock paintings are called petroglyphs, this is the name for all images on stone from ancient times (Paleolithic) up to the Middle Ages, both primitive cave rock hewn paintings, and later ones, for example, on specially installed stones, megaliths or "wild" rocks.

Such monuments are not concentrated somewhere in one place, but widely scattered across the face of our planet. They were found in Kazakhstan (Tamgaly), in Karelia, in Spain (Altamira cave), in France (caves of Font-de-Gaume, Montespan, etc.), in Siberia, on the Don (Kostenki), in Italy, England, Germany, in Algeria, where the gigantic multicolored paintings of the Tassilin-Ajjer mountain plateau in the Sahara, among the sands of the desert, were recently discovered and made a sensation all over the world.

Despite the fact that the rock paintings have been studied for about 200 years, they still remain a mystery.

According to the generally accepted theory of evolution, primitive man remained a primitive hunter-gatherer for many tens of thousands of years. And then a real insight suddenly visited him, and he began to draw and carve mysterious symbols and images on the walls of his caves, rocks and mountain crevices.

Oswald O. Tobisch, a man of generous and varied talents, spent 30 years researching more than 6,000 rock paintings, trying to restore some kind of logical system that unites them. When you get acquainted with the conclusions of his research and numerous comparative tables, it literally takes your breath away. Tobish traces the similarities of various rock paintings, so that it seems that in ancient times there was a single pra-culture and universal knowledge associated with it.

Of course, millions and millions of rock paintings did not appear at the same time; very often (but not always) they are separated by many millennia. In other cases, drawings were created on the same rocks over several millennia.

Nevertheless, it is a striking fact that many rock paintings in various parts of the world arose almost simultaneously. Everywhere, be it Toro Muerto (Peru), where tens of thousands of rock paintings have been found, Val Carmonica (Italy), the vicinity of the Karakoram Highway (Pakistan), the Colorado Plateau (USA), the Paraibo region (Brazil) or southern Japan, almost identical symbols and figures. Of course, I cannot fail to note that in each separate place there are their own, strictly localized types of images that cannot be found anywhere else, but this does not clear up the mystery of the striking similarity of the rest of the drawings.

If we consider all these images with all their attributes and symbols, an amazing impression arises that the sound of the same calling trumpet suddenly rang out all over the continents: “Remember: the gods are those who are surrounded by rays!” These "gods" in most cases are depicted as much larger than other little men. Their heads are almost always surrounded or crowned with a halo or nimbus, as if radiant rays emanate from them. In addition, ordinary people are always depicted at a respectful distance from the "gods"; they kneel before them, prostrating themselves on the ground, or raising their hands to them.

Oswald Tobisch, a rock carving specialist who traveled all over the world, with his tireless efforts, came even closer to unraveling this ancient mystery: perhaps it was still in the powerful force field of the “primordial revelation” of the one and all-powerful Creator?”

Hopi rock paintings in Arizona, USA

Similar examples of the creativity of ancient peoples can be found all over the world. In Altai - rock portraits of humanoid creatures in spacesuits, created 4 - 5 thousand years ago. In Central America - launching "spaceships". They are depicted on some Mayan tombs dating back about 1300 years. In Japan, bronze figurines of the 4th century BC are found dressed in helmets and overalls. In the mountains of Tibet - "flying saucers" painted 3000 years ago. Entire galleries of monsters with antennae on their heads, tentacles instead of arms and mysterious weapons are “exhibited” for all to see for us, descendants, in caves, on plateaus and in the mountains in Peru, Sahara, Zimbabwe, Australia, France, Italy.
Huge figures and a number of little men.

It is written in the history textbook that the primitive man wanted to somehow express himself and realize his primitive creativity with what was at hand. So rock paintings appeared on the rocks in deep caves.

But how primitive were our ancestors? And was it really so simple a few thousand years ago, as we imagine it to be? The drawings from primitive art collected in this article may make you think about something.

Man has always gravitated towards art. Proof of this are the numerous rock paintings all over the planet, created by our ancestors tens of thousands of years ago. Primitive creativity is evidence that people lived everywhere - from the hot African savannah to the Arctic Circle. America, China, Russia, Europe, Australia - everywhere the ancient artists left their marks. One should not think that primitive painting is completely primitive. There are among the rock masterpieces and very skillful works, surprising with beauty and technique of execution, painted with bright colors and carrying a deep meaning.

Petroglyphs and rock art of ancient people

Cueva de las Manos Cave

The cave is located in the south of Argentina. For a long time, the ancestors of the Indians of Patagonia lived here. Drawings depicting a hunting scene for wild animals were found on the walls of the cave, as well as many negative images of the hands of teenage boys. Scientists have suggested that drawing the outline of the hand on the wall is part of the initiation rite. In 1999, the cave was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Serra da Capivara National Park

After the discovery of many monuments of rock art, the area, located in the Brazilian state of Piaui, was declared a national park. Back in the days of pre-Columbian America, the Serra da Capivara Park was a densely populated area, a large number of communities of the ancestors of modern Indians were concentrated here. Rock paintings created with coal, red hematite and white gypsum date back to 12-9 millennium BC. They belong to the Nordesti culture.

Lascaux cave

A monument of the late Paleolithic period, one of the best preserved in Europe. The cave is located in France in the valley of the river Weser. In the middle of the 20th century, drawings created 18-15 thousand years ago were discovered in it. They belong to the ancient Solutrean culture. Images are located in several cave halls. The most impressive 5 meter drawings of animals resembling bison are in the "Hall of the Bulls".

Kakadu National Park

The area is located in northern Australia, about 170 km from the city of Darwin. Over the past 40 thousand years, Aboriginal people have lived in the territory of the present national park. They left curious samples of primitive painting. These are images of hunting scenes, shamanic rites and scenes of the creation of the world, made in a special "X-ray" technique.

Nine Mile Canyon

The gorge in the USA in the east of Utah is almost 60 km long. It was even called the longest art gallery because of the series of rock petroglyphs. Some are created using natural dyes, others are carved directly into the rock. Most of the images were created by the Indians of the Fremont culture. In addition to drawings, cave dwellings, well houses and ancient grain storages are of interest.

Kapova cave

An archaeological monument located in Bashkortostan on the territory of the Shulgan-Tash reserve. The length of the cave is more than 3 km, the entrance is in the form of an arch 20 meters high and 40 meters wide. In the 1950s, primitive drawings from the Paleolithic era were discovered in four halls of the grotto - about 200 images of animals, anthropomorphic figures and abstract symbols. Most of them are created using red ocher.

Valley of Wonders

Mercantour National Park, which is called the "Valley of Wonders", is located near the Côte d'Azur. In addition to natural beauties, tourists are attracted by Mount Bego - a real archaeological monument, where tens of thousands of ancient paintings of the Bronze Age were discovered. These are geometric figures of incomprehensible purpose, religious symbols and other mysterious signs.

Cave of Altamira

The cave is located in northern Spain in the autonomous community of Cantabria. She became famous for her rock paintings, which are made in polychrome technique using many natural dyes: ocher, hematite, coal. The images refer to the Madeleine culture that existed 15-8 thousand years BC. Ancient artists were so skilled that they were able to give images of bison, horses and wild boars a three-dimensional appearance, using the natural unevenness of the wall.

Chauvet cave

Historical monument of France, located in the valley of the river Ardèche. About 40 thousand years ago, the cave was inhabited by ancient people who left behind more than 400 drawings. The oldest images are over 35,000 years old. The murals are perfectly preserved due to the fact that for a long time they could not reach Chauvet, it was discovered only in the 1990s. Unfortunately, tourists are not allowed to enter the cave.

Tadrart-Acacus

Once upon a time, on the territory of the hot and almost barren Sahara, there was a fertile and green area. There is a lot of evidence for this, including rock paintings found in Libya on the territory of the Tadrart-Acacus mountain range. From these images, one can study the evolution of the climate in this part of Africa, and trace the transformation of a flowering valley into a desert.

Wadi Methandush

Another masterpiece of rock art in Libya, located in the southwest of the country. The drawings of Wadi Methandush depict scenes with animals: elephants, cats, giraffes, crocodiles, bulls, antelopes. It is believed that the most ancient were created 12 thousand years ago. The most famous painting and unofficial symbol of the area is two large cats in a duel.

Laas Gaal

A cave complex in the unrecognized state of Somaliland with perfectly preserved ancient drawings. These murals are considered the most surviving among all on the African continent, they date back to 9-3 millennia BC. Basically, they are dedicated to the sacred cow - a cult animal that was worshiped in these places. The images were discovered in the early 2000s by a French expedition.

Bhimbetka rock dwellings

Located in India, Madhya Pradesh. It is believed that erectus (Homo erectus - Homo erectus) lived in the Bhimbetka cave complex, the immediate ancestors of modern people. The drawings discovered by Indian archaeologists date back to the Mesolithic era. Interestingly, many of the rites of the inhabitants of the surrounding villages are similar to the scenes depicted by ancient people. In total, there are about 700 caves in Bhimbetka, of which more than 300 are well studied.

White Sea petroglyphs

Drawings of primitive people are located on the territory of the archaeological complex "Belomorskiye petroglyphs", which includes several dozen sites of ancient people. The images are located in a place called Zalavruga on the shores of the White Sea. In total, the collection consists of 2000 grouped illustrations depicting people, animals, battles, rituals, hunting scenes, and there is also a curious picture of a man on skis.

Petroglyphs of Tassilin-Adjer

A mountain plateau in Algiers, on the territory of which are located the largest drawings of ancient people discovered in northern Africa. Petroglyphs began to appear here from the 7th millennium BC. The main plot is hunting scenes and figures of animals of the African savannah. The illustrations are made in different techniques, which indicates their belonging to different historical eras.

Tsodilo

The Tsodilo mountain range is located in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. Here, on an area of ​​more than 10 km², thousands of images created by ancient people were discovered. The researchers claim that they cover a time period of 100,000 years. The most ancient creations are primitive contour drawings, the later ones represent an attempt by artists to give the drawings a three-dimensional effect.

Tomsk pisanitsa

A natural museum-reserve in the Kemerovo region, created in the late 1980s with the aim of preserving rock art. About 300 images are located on its territory, many of them were created about 4 thousand years ago. The earliest dates back to the 10th century BC. In addition to the creativity of the ancient man, tourists will be interested to look at the ethnographic exhibition and museum collections that are part of the Tomsk petroglyph.

Magura Cave

The natural object is located in northwestern Bulgaria near the town of Belogradchik. During archaeological excavations in the 1920s, the first evidence of the stay of an ancient man was found here: tools, ceramics, jewelry. More than 700 examples of rock paintings were also found, presumably created 100-40 thousand years ago. In addition to figures of animals and people, they depict stars and the sun.

Gobustan reserve

The protected area includes mud volcanoes and ancient rock art. More than 6 thousand images were created by people who lived on this earth from the primitive era to the Middle Ages. The plots are quite simple - scenes of hunting, religious rites, figures of people and animals. Gobustan is located in Azerbaijan about 50 km from Baku.

Onega petroglyphs

Petroglyphs were discovered on the eastern shore of Lake Onega in the Pudozh region of Karelia. Drawings dating back to 4-3 millennium BC are placed on the rocks of several capes. Some of the illustrations are quite impressive 4 meters in size. In addition to the standard images of people and animals, there are also mystical symbols of incomprehensible purpose, which have always frightened the monks of the nearby Murom Holy Dormition Monastery.

Rock reliefs at Tanum

A group of petroglyphs discovered in the 1970s on the territory of the Swedish commune of Tanum. They are located along a 25-kilometer line, which in the Bronze Age, presumably, was the shore of the fjord. In total, archaeologists have discovered about 3 thousand drawings, collected in groups. Unfortunately, under the influence of unfavorable natural conditions, petroglyphs are endangered. Gradually, it becomes more and more difficult to distinguish their outlines.

Rock paintings in Alta

Primitive people lived not only in a comfortable warm climate, but also near the Arctic Circle. In the 1970s, in the north of Norway, near the city of Alta, scientists discovered a large group of prehistoric drawings, consisting of 5,000 fragments. These paintings depict the life of a person in harsh weather conditions. Some illustrations contain ornaments and signs that scientists have not been able to decipher.

Coa Valley Archaeological Park

An archaeological complex created at the site of the discovery of prehistoric paintings dating back to the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods (the so-called Solutrean culture). There are not only ancient images here, some elements were created in the Middle Ages. The drawings are located on the rocks, stretching for 17 km along the Koa River. Also in the park there is the Museum of Art and Archeology, dedicated to the history of the area.

Newspaper Rock

In translation, the name of the archaeological site means "newspaper stone". Indeed, the petroglyphs covering the rock resemble a characteristic typographical seal. The mountain is located in the US state of Utah. It has not been established for certain when these signs were created. It is believed that the Indians applied them to the cliff both before the European conquerors came to the continent, and after that.

Edakkal caves

Edakkal caves in the state of Kerala can be attributed to one of the archaeological treasures of India and all mankind. During the Neolithic period, prehistoric petroglyphs were painted on the walls of the grottoes. These characters have not yet been deciphered. The area is a popular tourist attraction, visiting the caves is possible only as part of an excursion. Self-entry is prohibited.

Petroglyphs of the archaeological landscape of Tamgaly

The Tamgaly tract is located about 170 km from Alma-Ata. In the 1950s, about 2 thousand rock paintings were discovered on its territory. Most of the images were created in the Bronze Age, there are also modern creations that appeared in the Middle Ages. Based on the nature of the drawings, scientists have suggested that an ancient sanctuary was located in Tamgaly.

Petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai

The complex of rock signs, located on the territory of Northern Mongolia, covers an area of ​​25 km² and stretches for 40 km in length. The images were created in the Neolithic era more than 3 thousand years ago, there are also older drawings, 5 thousand years old. Most of them depict deer with chariots, there are also figures of hunters and fabulous animals resembling dragons.

Rock art in the Hua Mountains

Chinese rock art has been discovered in the south of the country in the Hua mountain range. They are figures of people, animals, ships, celestial bodies, weapons, painted in rich ocher. In total, there are about 2 thousand images, which are conventionally divided into 100 groups. Some pictures add up to full-fledged stories, where you can see a solemn ceremony, ritual or procession.

Swimmer's Cave

The grotto is located in the Libyan desert on the border of Egypt and Libya. In the 1990s, ancient petroglyphs were discovered there, the age of which exceeds 10 thousand years (the Neolithic era). They depict people floating in the sea or in another body of water. That is why the cave was called by its modern name. After people began to visit the grotto en masse, many drawings began to deteriorate.

horseshoe canyon

The gorge is part of the Canyonlands National Park, which is located in the US state of Utah. Horseshoe Canyon became famous due to the discovery in the 1970s of ancient drawings created by nomadic hunter-gatherers. The images are printed on panels about 5 meters high and 60 meters wide, they are 2-meter humanoid figures.

Petroglyphs of Val Camonica

In the first half of the 20th century, in the Italian Val Camonica valley (Lombardy region), the largest collection of rock carvings in the world was discovered - more than 300 thousand drawings. Most of them were created in the Iron Age, the latest ones belong to the Kamun culture, about which ancient Roman sources write. It is curious that when B. Mussolini was in power in Italy, these petroglyphs were considered proof of the birth of the highest Aryan race.

Twyfelfontein Valley

The most ancient settlements appeared in the Namibian Twyfelfontein valley more than 5 thousand years ago. Around the same time, rock paintings were created depicting the typical life of hunters and nomads. In total, scientists counted more than 2.5 thousand fragments, most of them are about 3 thousand years old, the youngest are about 500 years old. In the middle of the 20th century, someone stole an impressive part of the petroglyphs.

Chumashskaya painted cave

A national park in the state of California, on the territory of which there is a small sandstone grotto with a wall painting of the Chumash Indians. The plots of the paintings reflect the ideas of the natives about the world order. According to various estimates, the drawings were created in the period from 1 thousand to 200 years ago, which makes them quite modern compared to prehistoric rock art elsewhere in the world.

Petroglyphs of Toro Muerto

A group of petroglyphs in the Peruvian province of Castilla, which were created in the 6th-12th centuries during the Huari culture. Some scholars suggest that the Incas had a hand in them. The drawings depict animals, birds, celestial bodies, geometric ornaments, as well as people in a dance, probably performing some kind of ritual. In total, about 3 thousand painted stones of volcanic origin were discovered.

Petroglyphs of Easter Island

One of the most mysterious places on the planet, Easter Island, can surprise you not only with giant stone heads. Ancient petroglyphs painted on rocks, boulders, cave walls are of no less interest and are considered an important archaeological heritage. They are either schematic representations of a technical process, or non-existent animals and plants - scientists have yet to figure out this issue.

Rock paintings in Horseshoe Canyon, Utah, USA.

Such ancient historical monuments are not concentrated somewhere in one place, but are scattered all over the planet. Petroglyphs were not found at the same time, sometimes the discoveries of various drawings are separated by significant periods of time.

At times, on the same rocks, scientists find drawings from different millennia. Similarities can be traced among various rock paintings, so that it seems that in ancient times there was a single pra-culture and universal knowledge associated with it. So, many figures in the drawings have the same features, although their authors did not know anything about each other - they were separated by a huge distance and time. However, the similarity in the images is systematic: in particular, the heads of the gods always radiate light. Despite the fact that the rock paintings have been studied for about 200 years, they still remain a mystery.

It is believed that the first images of mysterious creatures were rock paintings on Mount Hunan, China (picture above). They are about 47,000 years old. These drawings supposedly depict early contacts with unknown beings, possibly visitors from extraterrestrial civilizations.

These drawings were found in the National Park called Sera da Capivara in Brazil. Experts say that the paintings were created about twenty-nine thousand years ago:

Interesting rock carvings over 10,000 years old were recently discovered in the state of Chhattisgarh, India:

This rock art dates back to around 10,000 BC and is located in Val Camonica, Italy. The painted figures look like two creatures wearing protective suits and their heads emitting light. In their hands they hold strange devices:

The next example is the rock carving of a luminous man, which is located 18 km west of the city of Navoi (Uzbekistan). At the same time, a shining figure sits on a throne, and the figures standing near it have something similar to protective masks on their faces. The kneeling person in the lower part of the drawing does not have such a device - he is at a considerable distance from the luminous figure and, apparently, does not need such protection.

Tassilin Adjer (Plateau of Rivers) is the largest monument of rock art in the Sahara. The plateau is located in the southeastern part of Algiers. The most ancient petroglyphs of Tassilin-Adjer date back to the 7th millennium BC. And the latest - the 7th century AD. For the first time, drawings on the plateau were seen in 1909:

Depiction dated circa 600 BC, from Tassilin Adjer. The picture shows a creature with different eyes, a strange “petal” hairstyle and a shapeless figure. More than a hundred similar "gods" were found in the caves:

These frescoes, found in the Sahara desert, depict a humanoid creature in a space suit. Frescoes - 5 thousand years:

Australia is isolated from other continents. However, on the Kimberley Plateau (northwest Australia) there are entire galleries of petroglyphs. And here all the same motifs are present: gods with similar faces and with a halo of rays around their heads. The drawings were first discovered in 1891:

These are images of Vandina, the goddess of the sky, in a halo of shining rays.

Rock art in Puerta del Canyon, Argentina:

Sego Canyon, Utah, USA. The most ancient petroglyphs appeared here more than 8,000 years ago:

"Rock-newspaper" in the same place, in Utah:

"Alien", Arizona, USA:

California, USA:

An image of an "alien". Kalbak-Tash, Altai, Russia:

"Sun Man" from the Karakol Valley, Altai:

Another of the many petroglyphs of the Italian Val Camonica valley in the Southern Alps:

Rock paintings of Gobustan, Azerbaijan. Scientists date the most ancient drawings to the Mesolithic era (about 10 thousand years ago:

Ancient rock paintings in Niger:

Onega petroglyphs at Cape Besov Nos, Russia. The most famous of the Onega petroglyphs is Bes, its length is two and a half meters. The image is crossed by a deep crack, dividing it exactly into two halves. A “gap” into another, otherworldly world. In a kilometer radius from Bes, satellite navigation often fails. The clock also behaves unpredictably: it can run forward, it can stop. What is the reason for such an anomaly, scientists only speculate. The ancient figure is cut with an Orthodox cross. Most likely, it was hollowed out over the demonic image by the monks of the Murom Monastery in the 15th-16th centuries. In order to neutralize the devil's power:

Petroglyphs of Tamgaly, Kazakhstan. Rock paintings abound in a variety of subjects, and the most common of them depict divine sun-headed creatures:

White Shaman Rock in Lower Canyon, Texas. The age of this seven-meter image, according to experts, is more than four thousand years. It is believed that the White Shaman hides the secrets of an ancient vanished cult:

Rock carvings of giant people from South Africa:

Mexico. Veracruz, Las Palmas: cave paintings depicting creatures in spacesuits:

Rock paintings in the Pegtymel river valley, Chukotka, Russia:

The twin gods fight with battle axes. One of the petroglyphs found in Tanumshead, western Sweden (drawings painted in red already in the modern period):

Among the petroglyphs on the Litsleby rock massif, a giant (2.3 m tall) image of a god with a spear (possibly Odin) dominates:

Sarmysh-say gorge, Uzbekistan. Numerous ancient rock paintings of people in strange clothes were found in the gorge, some of which can be interpreted as images of "ancient astronauts":

Rock paintings of the Hopi Indians in Arizona, USA, depicting certain creatures - kachina. The Hopi considered these mysterious kachinas to be their celestial teachers:

In addition, there are many ancient rock carvings, either solar symbols, or some objects resembling aircraft.

Cave paintings in San Antonio, Texas, USA.

This ancient rock art, discovered in Australia, depicts something very similar to a space alien ship. At the same time, the image may well mean something quite understandable.

Something like a rocket taking off. Kalbysh Tash, Altai.

Petroglyph depicting a UFO. Bolivia.

UFO from a cave in Chhattisgarh, India

The petroglyphs of Lake Onega depict cosmic, solar and lunar signs: circles and semicircles with outgoing lines-rays, in which a modern person can clearly see both a radar and a spacesuit. Moreover, TV.

Rock art, Arizona, USA

Petroglyphs of Panama

California, USA

Guanche rock paintings, Canary Islands

Ancient images of the mystical symbol of the spiral are found throughout the world. These rock paintings were once created by Indians in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, USA.

Rock art, Nevada, USA

One of the drawings discovered in a cave on the island of Youth, off the coast of Cuba. In it, one can find a great similarity with the structure of the solar system, where there is an image of eight planets with their largest satellites.

These petroglyphs are located in Pakistan, in the Indus Valley:

Once in these places there was a highly developed Indian civilization. It was from her that these ancient images carved on stones remained. Take a closer look - don't you think that these are mysterious vimanas - flying chariots from ancient Indian myths?

Paintings and engravings on the rocks began to be painted tens of thousands of years before the birth of such civilizations as Greece and Mesopotamia. While most of these writings remain a mystery, they scold modern scholars to understand the daily lives of prehistoric people, to understand their religious beliefs and culture. It is a real miracle that these ancient drawings have survived for such a long time in the face of natural erosion, wars and destructive human activities.

1. El Castillo

Spain
Some of the oldest known rock paintings in the world, depicting horses, bison and warriors, are located in the El Castillo Cave, in Cantabria in northern Spain. Inside the cave there is a hole so narrow that you need to crawl through it. In the cave itself, you can find many drawings that are at least 40,800 years old.

They were made shortly after humans began migrating from Africa to Europe, where they met the Neanderthals. In fact, the age of the rock paintings suggests the possibility that they were made by Neanderthals living in the region at the time, although the evidence for this is not at all conclusive.

2.Sulawesi

Indonesia
For a long time, El Castillo cave was believed to contain the oldest known rock art. But in 2014, archaeologists made a stunning discovery. In seven caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, handprints and primitive drawings of local pigs were found on the walls.

These images were already known to the locals, but no one even guessed how old they were. Scientists have estimated the age of the rock paintings at 40,000 years. Such a discovery called into question the long-standing belief that human art first appeared in Europe.

3. Arnhem Land Plateau

Australia
Recent studies have shown that some places in Australia may well compete in age with the world's oldest art. A 28,000-year-old rock painting has been found at the Navarla Gabarnmang rock shelter in the north of the country. However, scientists believe that some of the drawings may be much older, as one of them depicts a giant bird that became extinct about 40,000 years ago.

Therefore, either the rock art is older than expected, or the bird lived longer than modern science suggests. At Nawarla Gabarnmang, you can also find drawings of fish, crocodiles, wallabies, lizards, turtles and other animals made tens of thousands of years ago.

4. Apollo 11

Namibia
This cave got such an unusual name because it was discovered by a German archaeologist in 1969, when the first spacecraft (Apollo 11) landed on the moon. Drawings made with charcoal, ocher and white paint have been found on the stone slabs of a cave in southwestern Namibia.

The creatures, which resemble cats, zebras, ostriches and giraffes, are between 26,000 and 28,000 years old and are the oldest fine art found in Africa.

5. Pech-Merle cave

France
Scholars believed that the paintings of two spotted horses on the walls of the Peche Merle cave in south-central France, which were made 25,000 years ago, were the product of an ancient artist's imagination. But recent DNA studies have shown that a similar spotted horse did exist in the region at that time. Also in the cave you can find 5000-year-old images of bison, mammoths, horses and other animals, painted with black manganese oxide and red ocher.

6. Tadrart-Acacus

Libya
Deep in the Sahara desert in southwest Libya, in the Tadrart Acacus mountain range, thousands of paintings and rock paintings have been found that show that once there was water and lush vegetation in these arid lands. Also on the territory of the present Sahara lived giraffes, rhinos, and crocodiles. The oldest drawing here was made 12,000 years ago. But, after Tadrart-Acacus began to be swallowed up by the desert, people finally left this place around 100 AD.

7. Bhimbetka

India
In the state of Madhya Pradesh, there are about 600 caves and rock dwellings in which rock paintings have been found, made between 1,000 and 12,000 years ago.
These prehistoric images are painted with red and white paint. In the paintings you can find hunting scenes for buffaloes, tigers, giraffes, elks, lions, leopards, elephants and rhinos. Other drawings show fruit and honey gathering and animal domestication. You can also find images of animals that have long since become extinct in India.

8. Laas Gaal

Somalia
The complex of eight caves in Somaliland contains some of the oldest and best preserved rock paintings in Africa. Their age is estimated between 5,000 and 11,000 years, and these drawings of cows, humans, dogs, and giraffes are done in red, orange, and cream. Almost nothing is known about the people who lived here at that time, but many locals still consider the caves to be sacred.

9. Cueva de las Manos

Argentina
This unusual cave in Patagonia is literally overflowing with 9,000-year-old red and black handprints on the walls. Since there are mainly images of the left hands of teenage boys, scientists have suggested that drawing the image of one's hand was part of the rite of initiation for young men. In addition, hunting scenes of guanacos and flightless rhea birds can also be found in the cave.

10 Swimmers Cave

Egypt
In the Libyan desert in 1933, they found a cave with cave paintings from the Neolithic era. The images of floating people (from which the cave got its name), as well as the handprints that adorn the walls, were made between 6000 and 8000 years ago.