Abstract
Paleolithic cave art brings us face to face with the first known cultural use of color in existence accomplished over such vast time spans that it telescopes historic time to mere decades. It is a unique communication from our distant forebears that witnesses to a world that existed long before other modes of cultural transmission, such as writing, sculpture, or architecture, were developed. The subject matter of the paintings is also a window that opens onto a long-disappeared era where extinct species such as aurochs and mammoths roamed the land. It is no wonder that the discovery of these works mesmerized the world in 1900; a century later, scientists continue to be mesmerized by the unexpected discoveries they are making as they probe their composition. Be that as it may, their meaning still remains unfathomed.
Publisher
The Royal Society of Chemistry
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