Paleolithic Cave Paintings

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Art of the upper Paleolithic period has been discovered around the world. From Africa, to the Americas, to Asia, and Europe there are cave paintings ranging from twelve thousand to thirty six thousand years old and are more concentrated in the regions of France and Spain. An example of such artwork was discovered in the Lascaux caves of southwestern France on September 12, 1940 and immediately put under monument protection. Rather than only one painting, archaeologists stumbled upon a complex cave system with chambers that divided the paintings into different subjects. There’s a “great hall of bulls” as well as the “Chamber of felines”, and the “Shaft of the dead men”. The cave paintings are believed to be around twenty thousand years old and

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