Talking Points: Cave Art

A collection of imagery and sources designed to explore cave art.

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ages 5-8
ages 9-11
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Chauvet Cave

Explore into the depths of Chauvet cave with Google Arts and Culture

Discovered on December 18, 1994 in south east France, it is considered one of the most significant prehistoric art sites and contains some of the best preserved figurative cave paintings in the world.

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you can see in the cave paintings?

Which drawings are your favourites?

What material do you think they might have used to create these paintings?

Lascaux Cave

On 12 September 1940, the entrance to the Lascaux Cave was discovered by 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat when his dog, Robot, fell in a hole.

The deteriorating condition of the cave caused by an introduction to bacteria and changes in humidity the caves led to its closure.

Find out why the cave was closed to visitors in 1963.

Questions to Ask Children

How do you think it would feel to discover prehistoric cave paintings?

Why is it important that these paintings are preserved?

How do these paintings differ from those in the Chauvet Cave?

The White Lady

The white lady cave painting is located in The Brandberg mountains in Namibia dating back to at least 2000 years ago.

It is usually assumed that the painting shows some sort of ritual dance.

It’s thought that the painting was probably made of ochre, charcoal, manganese, hematite, with blood serum, egg white, and casein used as binding agents. 

Questions to Ask Children

Describe what you can see.

What animals do you think are depicted?

What do you like about this cave art?

What materials might you use to recreate the colours and textures of this painting?

How do these paintings differ from those in the Chauvet Cave?

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