Prehistoric Art refers to Stone Age, Paleolithic, and Neolithic art and artifacts, literally referring to the time before recorded history. Archeologists have identified 4 basic types of Stone Age art, as follows: petroglyphs (cupules, rock carvings, and engravings); pictographs (pictorial imagery, ideomorphs, ideograms, or symbols), a category that includes cave painting and drawing; and prehistoric sculpture.

Art from this period was a powerful form of communicating information between tribes and generations; for instance, the Lascaux caves in Southern France demonstrate hunting techniques through the use of basic narrative structure and iconography dating back to 15,000 B.C.

The earliest human artifacts showing evidence of workmanship with an artistic purpose are the subject of some debate. It is clear that such workmanship existed 40,000 years ago in the Upper Paleolithic era, although it is quite possible that it began earlier. The most common themes in European cave paintings are large wild animals, such as bison, horses, aurochs, and deer, and tracings of human hands, which was said to be the signature of the artist who painted it, as well as abstract patterns.

In September 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the earliest known drawing by Homo sapiens, which is estimated to be 73,000 years old, much earlier than the 43,000 years old artifacts understood to be the earliest known modern human drawings found previously.

Engraved shells created by Homo erectus dating as far back as 500,000 years ago have been found, although experts disagree on whether these engravings can be properly classified as ‘art’. Source: Wikipedia.