Title: Cave painting Content: Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings. Usually these paintings were made in prehistoric times. It is not known why these paintings were made. They may have had a function for rituals. They may also have been a way to transit information; to tell other people about something. Most paintings are in caves that are difficult to get at. Today, there are about 350 caves known which have paintings in them. Many are in France and Spain. The best known are probably the caves of Altamira (in Spain), Lascaux (in France), or Creswell Crags in England. Sometimes, paintings were also done on cliff faces. Fewer of those have survived though, because of erosion. One such example are the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi (in Finland). Most often, animals or hunting scenes were painted. Sometimes hands are there too. Rarely, there are also more abstract patterns. The paintings were drawn with red and yellow ochre, hematite, manganese oxide and charcoal. Sometimes the silhouette of the animal was put into the rock first. == Styles == André Leroi-Gourhan (1911-1986) has classified the paintings into different styles:André Leroi- Gourhan: Treasures of Prehistoric Art. Abrams, New York 1967.André Leroi- Gourhan: Le Symbolisme des Grandes Signes dans l’art Parietal Paléolithiques. In: Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française. 55 (3), 1958, pp 307–321.Leroi-Gourhan 1971,pp 245ff.  == Theories == There are different theories about why people created cave paintings. These are the most common explanations: * Painting in caves could be a form of hunting magic, meant to make a hunt more successful. A similar theory is based on studies of modern hunter-gatherer societies. This theory says that shamans made cave paintings. The shaman would retreat into the darkness of the caves, enter into a trance state, and then paint images of their visions, perhaps with some notion of drawing power out of the cave walls themselves. * Cave paintings could be some form of graffiti, mostly done by teenage boys of the time. Figurines have been found that show Venus at roughly the same age. According to this theory, there were many adolescents in the society of the time. Most of the adolescents who painted were male, but some were female. * The paintings may have been made for practical reasons: There is some hidden symbolism which may show the techniques of hunting, or the routes the animals took. * People may have painted what they wished for or what they had dreamt of. *The paintings could have been seen as "art" at the time. There are several societies today who do not have a word for art, but who practice the same type of painting. == Oldest known == A painting on the wall of an Indonesian cave has is about 44,000 years old. It shows a buffalo being hunted.Sulawesi art: Animal painting found in cave is 44,000 years old. BBC News. Last year another painting was found in Borneo. == Gallery == File:La Pasiega-Galeria A-Ciervas (panel 22).png|from La Pasiega, Spain File:Bisonte de Altamira.jpg|from Altamira, Spain File:Lions painting, Chauvet Cave (museum replica).jpg|from Chauvet, France File:Chauvethorses.jpg|from Chauvet File:Lascaux, horse.JPG|from Lascaux, France File:Niaux,_bisons.JPG|from Niaux cave, France File:Gravure_rupestre_(mammouth).jpg|A mammuth etching, from Pair-Non-Pair, France File:Manos_de_Gargas_(Francia).png|Hands in Gargas cave, France == Related pages == *Rock art *Upper Palaeolithic