18,000 B.C. The cave consists of a main cavern, known as the Great Hall of Bulls, and numerous inter-connected side chambers and galleries. The walls are covered with paintings of animals done mainly in black, brown, red, and yellow pigments. These were made from ocher ground into powder and mixed with animal fat. The artists often took advantage of bulging rock formations to emphasize particular features and capture a vivid, naturalistic sense of movement. Animals depicted include bison, reindeer, horses, boars, wolves, and rhinoceroses.
Many paintings show animals pierced by spears or arrows.
It is believed that these paintings had a magical or ritual function related to the hunt. Lascaux is called the Sistine Chapel of prehistoric art. 1962 Delevan National Wildlife Refuge, California, is established. Canyonlands National Park, Utah, is established. Back-country travelers may view such species as the puma, coyote, gray fox, bobcat, badger, ringtail, mule deer, blacktail jackrabbit, desert cottontail, and various rodents.