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Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings. Usually these paintings were made in prehistoric times.
It is not known why these paintings were made. They may have been used in rituals. Some were surely giving information. Many paintings in caves are difficult to get at.
Today, there are about 350 caves known which have paintings in them. Many are in France and Spain. The best known are probably the caves of Altamira (in Spain), Lascaux (in France), or Creswell Crags in England. Sometimes, paintings were also done on cliff faces. Fewer of those have survived though, because of erosion. One such example are the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi (in Finland).
Most often, animals or hunting scenes were painted. Sometimes hands are there too. Rarely, there are also more abstract patterns.
The paintings were drawn with red and yellow ochre, hematite, manganese oxide and charcoal. Sometimes the silhouette of the animal was put into the rock first.