Humans have been painting in caves for tens of thousands of years and many tribes continue today. Some of the most famous art is from the European Upper Palaeolithic life. These images include the famous Lascaux paintings, along with hundreds more found across the continent.
Nobody actually knows why prehistoric people painted in caves, but many people have their own theory. One of the earliest explanations for cave art is "arts for art's sake", thought back when these paintings were first discovered in the 19th century. As them name says, the idea is that our ancestors just painted because they were bored, because they found the pictures pretty, because they wanted to. There was no real goal or reason behind it, it was the old equivalent of a doodle.
Nobody actually knows why prehistoric people painted in caves, but many people have their own theory. One of the earliest explanations for cave art is "arts for art's sake", thought back when these paintings were first discovered in the 19th century. As them name says, the idea is that our ancestors just painted because they were bored, because they found the pictures pretty, because they wanted to. There was no real goal or reason behind it, it was the old equivalent of a doodle.