Editing Stone Age (section)

====Rock paintings====
{{main|Cave painting}}
In Paleolithic times, mostly animals were painted, in theory ones that were used as food or represented strength, such as the [[rhinoceros]] or large [[Felidae|cats]] (as in the [[Chauvet Cave]]). Signs such as dots were sometimes drawn. Rare human representations include handprints and half-human/half-animal figures. The Cave of Chauvet in the [[Ardèche]] department, France, contains the most important cave paintings of the paleolithic era,<ref>{{cite web|date=12 February 2017|first=Emma|last=Groeneveld |title=Chauvet Cave|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Chauvet_Cave/|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|access-date=24 July 2019}}</ref> dating from about 36,000 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Anita |last1=Quiles |first2=Hélène |last2=Valladas |first3=Hervé |last3=Bocherens |first4=Emmanuelle |last4=Delqué-Kolic |first5=Evelyne |last5=Kaltnecker |first6=Johannes |last6=van der Plicht |first7=Jean-Jacques |last7=Delannoy |first8=Valérie |last8=Feruglio |first9=Carole |last9=Fritz |first10=Julien |last10=Monney |first11=Michel |last11=Philippe |first12=Gilles |last12=Tosello |first13=Jean |last13=Clottes |first14=Jean-Michel |last14=Geneste |display-authors=6 |title=A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d'Arc, Ardèche, France |journal=PNAS |volume=113 |issue=17 |pages=4670–4675 |date=11 April 2016 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1523158113 |doi-access=free |pmid=27071106 |pmc=4855545 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113.4670Q }}</ref><ref name="Netburn">{{cite news|last1=Netburn|first1=Deborah|title=Chauvet cave: The most accurate timeline yet of who used the cave and when|url=http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-chauvet-caves-timeline-20160412-story.html|access-date=22 December 2016|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 2016}}</ref> The [[Altamira (cave)|Altamira]] cave paintings in Spain were done 14,000 to 12,000 BC and show, among others, [[bison]]s. The hall of bulls in [[Lascaux]], Dordogne, France, dates from about 15,000 to 10,000 BC.

[[File:Bhimbetka rock paintng1.jpg|thumb|Rock painting at [[Bhimbetka]], India, a [[World Heritage Site]]]]

The meaning of many of these paintings remains unknown. They may have been used for seasonal rituals. The animals are accompanied by signs that suggest a possible magic use. Arrow-like symbols in Lascaux are sometimes interpreted as [[calendar]] or [[almanac]] use, but the evidence remains interpretative.<ref>{{cite book | first=Amir D. | last=Aczel | title=The Cave and the Cathedral: How a Real-Life Indiana Jones and a Research Scholar Decoded the Ancient Art of Man | place=Hoboken | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | pages=157–158 | year=2000 }}</ref>

Some scenes of the Mesolithic, however, can be typed and therefore, judging from their various modifications, are fairly clear. One of these is the battle scene between organized bands of archers. For example, "the marching warriors", a rock painting at Cingle de la Mola, [[Castellón de la Plana|Castellón]] in Spain, dated to about 7,000–4,000 BC, depicts about 50 bowmen in two groups marching or running in step toward each other, each man carrying a bow in one hand and a fistful of arrows in the other. A file of five men leads one band, one of whom is a figure with a "high crowned hat".

In other scenes elsewhere, the men wear head-dresses and knee ornaments but otherwise fight nude. Some scenes depict the dead and wounded, bristling with arrows.<ref>{{cite book | pages=48–51 | title=Rock art of the Spanish Levant | first=Antonio Beltrán | last=Martínez | series=The Imprint of Man | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1982 | orig-year=1979}}</ref> One is reminded of [[Ötzi the Iceman]], a Copper Age mummy revealed by an Alpine melting glacier, who collapsed from loss of blood due to an arrow wound in the back.{{opinion|date=October 2024}}