THE ROLE OF PAREIDOLIA IN CAVE ART:

Spotted horses, Pach Merle Cave, France. Online image, public domain.

The history of rock art research is replete with good ideas that get over-applied. From the original interpretation of “hunting magic” to David Lewis-William’s “shamans” interpretations that can be applied to some of the original examples are often then taken up and overused time and time again. Now a paper attributing the inspiration for painted caves in Spain to pareidolia seriously threatens to cause another run on that particular bank.Perhaps the first reference to the phenomenon of pareidolia in cave art involves the bison ceiling at Altamira Cave in Spain where rounded humps on the ceiling of a chamber seemingly inspired images of reclining bison.

Bison ceiling, Altamira Cave, Spain. Online image, public domain.

“The influence of pareidolia has often been anecdotally observed in examples of Upper Palaeolithic cave art, where topographic features of cave walls were incorporated into images. As part of a wider investigation into the visual psychology of the earliest known art, we explored three hypotheses relating to pareidolia in cases of Late Upper Palaeolithic art in Las Monedas and La Pasiega Caves (Cantabria, Spain). Deploying current research methods from visual psychology, our results support the notion that topography of cave walls played a strong role in the placement of figurative images—indicative of pareidolia influencing art making—although played a lesser role in determining whether the resulting images were relatively simple or complex. Our results also suggested that lighting conditions played little or no role in determining the form or placement of images, contrary to what has been previously assumed.” (Wisher et al. 2023) Sorry gentlemen, I totally disagree with your suggestion that lighting conditions played no role. The lighting conditions would have controlled the appearance of the features that you are attributing the pareidolia to.

Horse on cave wall, Las Monedas Cave, Spain. Image from cambridge.com.

“Pareidolia—the psychological phenomenon of seeing meaningful forms in random patterns, such as perceiving faces in clouds—is a universal feature of our visual system. It is likely a consequence of the evolution of our visual system adapting to allow partial or obscured profiles of potential predators to be rapidly identified through the conferral of meaning, and hence to minimize risk.” (Wisher et al. 2023)

Horse on cave wall, Las Monedas Cave, Spain. Image from cambridge.com.

“This process has been the subject of extensive psychological study, with existing debates regarding the particular cultural mechanisms that may cause pareidolia, e.g. do modern Western people see faces relatively frequently because our visual system has evolved to treat the visual stimuli of faces as ‘special’, or merely because we have visual expertise in face perception?” (Wisher et al. 2023) An obvious example of this is represented by the spotted horses of Pech Merle Cave in France where the shape of a horse’s head at the edge of a rock face suggested the panel of spotted horses.

Bison on cave wall, La Pasiega Cave, Spain. Image from cambridge.com.

“This discussion has focused on how heightened sensory awareness and the ambiguous nature of visual stimuli, induced by the darkness of caves, would have likely caused Palaeolithic people to experience visual imagery, priming them to depict the same animals they had perceived. There has also been extensive previous discussion pertaining to the integration of the rock support and its role in determining the placement of depictions within a cave, for example with the rock used to frame depictions or add depth and dimensionality to an animal motif.” (Wisher et al. 2023)

Aurochs in niche on cave wall, La Pasiega Cave, Spain. Image from cambridge.com.

“Hypothesis 1: The majority of figurative depictions should integrate natural topographic features of cave walls.

Secondly ( and building on Hypothesis 1): As pareidolic imagery of animals generally does not incorporate detail beyond salient outline form or the natural features that triggered the pareidolic image, we further propose that simpler depictions of animals that are incomplete in form and/or feature no additional details beyond the outline should integrate natural features. By contrast, detailed depictions, i.e. those complete in form and/or featuring internal detail such as pelage, hair, eyes, and particularly those with stylistic features consistent with other contemporaneous depictions, may thus reflect pareidolia having no or minimal influence over the form and placement of depictions. It may therefore be expected that detailed depictions are less likely to be scaffolded onto natural topographic features when compared to simple depictions.

Horse on cave wall, La Pasiega Cave, Spain. Image from cambridge.com.

Hypothesis 3: Simpler depictions should have a stronger relationship to natural topographic features of the cave wall than detailed depictions.” (Wisher et al. 2023) While I can understand the reasoning behind their second and third hypotheses, I do not agree with them that having a bump on the cave wall or a crack in the rock will keep me from adding more detail. While the authors assume that the viewer will rely on the change of contour to imply whatever details were supposedly suggested by the rock feature, that would be no reason to keep me from touching it up to “improve” it. And, as the light source moves the appearance of the feature may change so it cannot be relied on to imply the details.

"Dr. Wisher and colleagues found that as many as 71% of images studied in the Las Monedas caves, and 55% in the La Pasiega caves, showed a strong relationship to the natural features of the cave wall, suggesting pareidolia may havew been a partial influence on the artists. Examples included where curved edges of the cave wall were used to represent the backs of animals such as wild horses, or where natural cracks were used as bison's horns. The archaeologists found that of those drawings with a strong relationship to natural features on the cave wall, the majority (80% in Las Monedas and 83% in La Pasiega) lacked additional details such as eyes or hair, which correlates with the simplistic nature of imagery influenced by pareidolia." (sci.news 2023) But the question is - how subjective or objective were these judgements? Without many more pictures illustrating concrete examples of images that they claim were influenced by pareidolia, I have to wonder how subjective their evaluations were - would you or I agree with their judgements?

Las Monedas, Spain. Image from cambridge.com.

Many cave walls are, by their nature, pretty rough. The rock surface can be smooth but it will still be contoured with swellinngs, low areas, projections, etc. It would be hard to place an image on many cave walls without having it interact with some kind of changes of contour. But, are those changes of contour the reason the image was placed where it was?

While I totally agree that some cave art was probably inspired by pareidolia (remember the Altamira bison and the Peche Merle horses), as usual I believe that this goes a little too far. Once someone saw a crack, or a bump, or whatever on the cave wall reminded him or her of an animal and then pictured it there, the idea of making pictures on the cave walls has been established and proliferated from there. They no longer needed pareidolia to prompt them to create cave art. So, some cave art was certainly inspired by pareidolia, I just cannot believe that the influence was this extensive.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

News Staff sci.news, 2023, Pareidolia May Have Stimulated Paleolithic Humans to Make Cave Art, 25 September 2023, https://www.sci.news/archaeology/paleolithic-pareidolia-12293.html. Accessed online 25 September 2023.

Wisher, Izzy, Paul Pettit and Robert Kentridge, 2023, Upper Palaeolithic Conversations with Caves: The Role of Pareidolia in the Figurative Art of Las Monedas and La Pasiega (Cantabria, Spain) 21 September 2023, Published online by Cambridge University Press. Accessed online 22 September 2023.

 

GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES IN ROCK ART – A WATERFALL PORTRAYAL IN LA PASIEGA CAVE?

Scalariform from La Pasiega Cave, Spain. Illustration from Donsmaps.com.

I sometimes wonder if my columns countering some of the silly claims that are made about rock art brand me as mean spirited and too negative. I do believe, however, that this nonsense has to be countered. If not exposed to be the silliness that it represents it has the potential to infect the thinking of newly interested rock art enthusiasts, to say nothing of branding all of the rest of us as ridiculous in the eyes of science and the arts. So, at a risk of coming across as negative, I will continue calling them as I see them, and – here we go again.

Having recently dealt with a ridiculous claim about the Neandertal scalariform image in the cave of La Pasiega in Spain, I have now found another paper that makes a pretty far out claim – that it is a representation of a waterfall.

Closeup of scalariform from La Pasiega Cave, Spain. Illustration from Donsmaps.com.

Recently dated, the scalariform symbol could have only been produced by a Neandertal artist. “Two samples were taken from the scalariform and one from the dot field above the symbol, joining a sample taken during previous testing. Sample labeled PAS 34 returned a corrected age of 79,660 ybp (+/- 14,900 years), suggesting the scalariform could have been produced anywhere from 64,800 to 94,560 ybp. These results may prove the scalariform was produced by Neanderthal artist or artists 25,000 to 55,000 years before anatomically modern humans reached northern Iberia. Sanple PAS 3 (taken during previous testing) dated the dot field above the scalariform to 12,600 ybp (+/-100 years). This suggests Magdalenians may have added to the Neanderthal symbol making it their representation of a sacred location and the spirit who dwelt there.” (Fowler 2020:9) So, according to dating, the scalariform group appears to consist of the scalariform itself which was Neandertal, and the dot pattern above and bowl-shaped element below the scalariform which appear to be Magdalenian. The element to the right of the scalariform is not included in Fowler’s analysis.

“La Pasiega cave is located on the southeastern side of the Monte Castillo cave complex near the town of Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, Spain. It contains more than 700 individual paintings, including deer, horses, ibex, cattle, reindeer, giant elk, birds, fish, and anthropomorphs. The original entrance to Gallery C is now blocked, leaving the impression the painting has always been deep within the cave. In reality, it is approximately five to six meters from the original entrance, meaning the individuals responsible for its creation never lost sight of the illuminated opening. This dramatically changes the perception of how the painting might have appeared in the cave environment 64,800 to 94,560 years ago. Instead of being hidden deep in the cave, portions of the work my have been dimly lit by reflected light making the work accessible at any time, without torches, lamps or special preparations. It is conceivable the effect of the lighting would have impacted the painting’s appearance during the course of the day, month, or year.” (Fowler 2020:13) By “impacted the painting’s appearance” I believe that Fowler is referring to the effects of changing light on its appearance.

Waterfall at the head of the Ason River, Spain. Internet photograph, public domain.

“In the Cantabrian Mountains in the southeastern portion of Cantabria, an underground stream exits the base of a second level crag, creating a two-tiered waterfall known as Nacimiento del Rio Ason, or the birthplace of the Ason River. The 70 meter waterfall is reportedly spectacular in the Spring, when the stream is at peak flow. The geology and shape of the waterfall here bear a resemblance to the scalariform and the shadowed shape of the trough found in the cave. The geology at this area, three thick layers of strata, is strikingly similar to the main design of the scalariform, while the small extension on the upper right side of the symbol matches the point where the underground stream emerges from the base of the upper crag. These similarities make it a reasonable approximation of the Ason location. While this visual similarity is intriguing, and suggests an association, a waterfall at the head of the Ason valley could not have existed 64,800 years ago. However, a waterfall similar to the one which appears there today almost certainly existed there 74 to 95 kya – the upper range of the dating estimate.” (Fowler  2020:22)

Neandertal scalariform painted at head of the trough in the cave wall. Photograph P. Saura.

What Fowler is saying here is that he believes that the banded shape of the scalariform represents the three layers of strata in the cliff where a waterfall begins the Ason River, the small upward projection at the top represents the point of emergence of the underground stream which creates the waterfall, and the trough in the cave wall at the bottom left of the scalariform represents the flowing water of the waterfall.

Other elements of the design include a dot pattern at the upper left of the scalariform. “The dot field above the scalariform is approximately 19 inches high by 12 inches wide and has been dated to 12,600 ybp (+/- 100 years). Breuil’s meticulous recreation of Panel 78 indicates the shape is comprised of 149 individual dots.” (Fowler 2020:40)

Scalariform pattern drawn by Abbe Breuil.

“The bowl shape at the bottom right of the scalariform has not been tested, so no date has been assigned. However, the similarity in paint hues suggests they may have been applied at the same time as the dot field. No feature related specifically to the water, waterfall or its immediate geology matches this portion of the painting. However, the semicircular canyon where the waterfall is located – the head of the Ason Valley – shares the same basic shape, especially when viewed from the base of the waterfall. If the bowl shape was added at to the scalariform at the same time as the dot field, and does represent the head of the canyon, then the Neanderthal/Magdalenian collaboration of Panel 78 provides a reasonable accurate description of the appearance and location of a waterfall less than 50 kilometers away.” (Fowler 2020:48) So, according to Fowler, the bowl shape represents the curvature of the head of the valley where the waterfall is found.

“The intentional placement of the symbol inside the trough at La Pasiega certainly seems to suggest the artist intended to convey an association between the symbol and the depression (and by default, water from the stalactite). When viewed from the center of the gallery, the shadowing in the trough would have closely resembled a flow of water over the edge of the symbol, which is very similar to the pattern of the peak flow of the waterfall and the geology found at the head of the Ason valley. Whether Neanderthals intended the painting to represent a waterfall at Ason or some other waterfall in the region, modern humans entered the cave roughly 12,000 years ago and recognized the patterns in the design as a representation of the location where the Ason River was born. Their additions – the dot field, the bowl shaped object and the animals – seem to leave little doubt this was their intention.” (Fowler 2020:38) If I understand this correctly Fowler is saying that the scalariform represents a Neanderthal portrayal of the the layers of rock strata in the cliff, the Magdalenian dot pattern may represent the stream of the Ason from the spring where it originates to where it flows over the cliff, the possibly Magdelenian bowl shape below the scalariform is the curve of the end of the valley, and the waterfall itself supposedly is the trough in the cave wall below and to the left of the scalariform. I urge you to look the paper up and confirm this for yourselves.

Fowler then gets into some fairly fringie claims about the dot pattern resembling a seated goddess (page 46), and in a section titled “Panel 78 Symbolism: Similarities to Formalized Codes and Written Languages” (page 60) he discusses the resemblance of the dot pattern to Chinese language characters (although he apparently dismisses this similarity in the end it should never have been included in this paper).

So, in summation, do I believe that the scalariform group on Panel 78 in La Pasiega Cave, Spain, with both Neandertal and Magdalenian dated elements is a picture of Nascimiento del Rio Ason? No, I do not although I suppose it is a slight possibility. Do I believe that the dot pattern added by the Magdelenians is a seated goddess or a Chinese character – not a chance. It is sometimes difficult to control one’s imagination when one is in the grips of the creative fervor caused by a new idea, and Fowler’s analysis is certainly a new idea. In this enthusiasm it is too easy to cast about for evidence that will corraborate your idea, while ignoring counter arguments. So, new idea yes, I just think it goes too far.

NOTE: Images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Fowler, Thomas, 2020, La Pasiega Panel 78: A Possible Neanderthal-Magdalenian Palimpsest Depicting Waterfalls at the Head of the Ason Valley, December 2020, https://www.academia.edu/44743281/La_Pasiega_Panel_78_A_Possible_Neanderthal_Magdalenian_Palimpsest_Depicting_Waterfalls_at_the_Head_of_the_As%C3%B3n_Valley

Wikipedia, Cave of La Pasiega, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_La-Pasiega, accessioned on 22 May 2022.

MISINTERPRETING LA PASIEGA:

Neandertal scalariform and associated pictographs, La Pasiega Cave, France. Illustration from www.donsmaps.com.

In a 2019 paper Mark-Olivieri Rondu provided a very detailed theory explanating the scalariform symbol group in the cave of La Pasiega in France. He based this interpretation on agricultural symbolism which is just impossible given the dating of the symbol. “In 2018 uranium-thorium dating revealed a scalariform (ladder-shaped)symbol to be older than 64,000 years and therefore made by Neanderthals.” (Wikipedia) (see RockArtBlog for 5 February 2022, “DATED NEANDERTAL CAVE ART PROVIDES A NEW CANDIDATE FOR OLDEST ROCK ART”).

Breuil's map of La Pasiega Cave, France. Illustration donsmaps.com.

In 1913 Abbe Henri Breuil published his study of La Pasiega, designating the vertical arrangement of three rectangles with partial zoomorphs indicated in the top and bottom rectangle “la Trampa,” the trap. “On the panel 78, gallery C, a composition called by Breuil et al. ‘la Trampa’ (The Trap) is composed of a rectangular shape made of red lines called a scalariform pattern which shelters two uncomplete (sp) representations of animals considered here to be a pregnant sow in the rectangle on top and below, the first half of a reindeer female. Both animals are separated by an empty space. On the upper left angle, close to the sow’s back, two groups of semi-circular dotted lines caps the scalariform shape.” (Rondu 2019)

Neandertal painting, La Pasiega Cave, France. Illustration donsmaps.com.

“Semi-circular dotted lines compose a single representation of a time continuum in accordance with the angle made by the sow and the induced position of the sun at the horizon. The first ‘unfinished’ group of semi-circular dotted line is made of 46 dots associated to the timing in hours of the sow rut (usually lasting between 48 and 72 hours) during the last phase of equinox of autumn. The equinox is represented by the angle made by the unfinished semi-circular group, the animal and the horizon. The second semi-circular dotted line is longer and almost perfectly semi-circular. It is composed of 103 dots coinciding with the sow’s gestation period during winter. The angle made by the sow and the semi-circular dotted line marks effectively the angle of the sun during the winter solstice. The perpendicular position of the semi-circular dotted lines in comparison to the scalariform pattern gives the cardinal directions, making the ladder shape and east-west perspective where animal are turned to North (sow) and south (reindeer). The convergence of semi-circular dotted lines representing the equinox and solstice is highly probably marking the West.” (Rondu 2019)Although he may be correct on the sow’s rut cycle lasting two to three days, the statement that a sow’s gestation period is 103 days may not be correct. Sources that I consulted all agree that swine gestation lasts for 114 days ± 2 days. It is, of course, possible that wild boars 64,000 years ago had a different gestation period but, were that the case, Rondu cannot know this any more than I can.

Right side of Neandertal painting, La Pasiega Cave, France. Illustration donsmaps.com.

 

Rondu’s most extreme interpretation is his identification of the shape to the right of the scalariform pattern as a bow ard, a type of primitive agricultural plow, and the yellow surrounding it as a field of wheat.

Drawing of same right side element, La Pasiega Cave, France. Illustration donsmaps.com.

“On the right of the scalariform shape, surrounded by yellow color, is the first representation of an archaic bow ard. It is extremity made of a short and vertical share blade turns toward the ladder shape. The share blade is linked to the bean(sp) by a strong body and augmented by two horizontal handles probably used to push. The lower horizontal part in contact with the soil stabilizes the push by sliding. The grips shape tends to illustrate an attempt of perspective in order to associate the bow ard to the work grid and probably to the reindeer that is still considered as an efficient draft animal in Scandinavian and Inuit societies. Consequently, the surrounding yellow color echoes the wheat and opens a radically different interpretation of the ‘Inscription’ gallery B.” (Rondu 2019) The word “bean” in this paragraph is a typo, the bow ard consists of a beam to which the point (or plowshare) and handle(s) are attached. The earliest evidence of ard plow use in the Near East is the 6^th millennium BC, while in Europe the earliest known wooden ard dates from 2300 – 2000 BC, although the earliest evidence of plow cultivation in Europe (scratch marks in fields) dates from 3500 to 3000 BC. (Ard Plough History)

I am highly skeptical that the Neandertals of 64,000 years ago in France were using plows pulled by reindeer to cultivate fields of wheat. Indeed, I will go so far as to say that is impossible. But what if the picture of the plow was added later, you say? Simple, then he does not get to call this part of the 64,000 year old composition – end of story. In summation, I believe that Marc-Olivier Rondu has misinterpreted this composition based upon some erroneous facts as well as a healthy imagination. What is so lively about the study of rock art is the range of interpretations that people bring to it, but, to paraphrase Bernard Baruch “He is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts”.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Ard (Plough) History, https://findatwiki.com/Ard_(plow), accessed 18 April 2022.

Rondu, Marc-Olivier, 2019, The Most Ancient Astronomical Representation of the Earth-Moon System Was Still Anchored in the Cantabrian Magdalenian Stylistic, Paris, www.academia.edu

Swine Gestation Table, https://nationalswine.com/resources/docs/Swine-Gestation-Table.pdf, accessed on 15 April 2022.

Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_La_Pasiega, accessed on 15 April 2022.

PALEOLITHIC CAVE PAINTING - A PRECURSOR TO WRITING?

La Pasiega inscription, Spain.

http://channel.national

geographic.com/origins

The perennial question of the origin(s) of writing has been long debated and argued over. Perhaps the earliest nominee for the title of earliest writing is a row of symbols found in La Pasiega Cave, in Spain.  This was discussed by Genevieve von Petzinger in her 2016 book The First Signs, Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols, from Atria Books, New York.

 Close-up, La Pasiega inscription, Spain.

http://channel.national

geographic.com/origins

"The 'La Pasiega inscription' is probably the most unusual sequence of signs found anywhere in Palaeolithic art. La Pasiega is part of the same mountain complex where we find El Castillo and several other important Ice Age sites, but even in this company, features like its grinding stone and purple bison make it unusual. And these pale in comparison to the strange row of signs situated high on a wall of their own, deep inside the complex, multileveled warren of passageways that make up La Pasiega. With the dark-red paint of the characters still standing out starkly from the pale, sloping wall, these abstract images are over twelve feet above floor level - the artist would have had to scramble up a steep, slippery incline to even create this series of signs.

What first struck me when I saw these images was how organized and purposeful they looked: they seem to be organized into three closely spaced units. The most complex is on the left and consists of a pair of horizontal lines with other markings extending upward vertically from this base. There is a symmetry to the arrangement: in the center is a single line, flanked on either side by two stacked circles, with a pair of lines on each end. The center unit consists of two images that have been described as 'stylized feet' and are made up of oval shapes each topped with five short lines extending upward (kind of like the toes on a foot). And, finally, on the right is a single sign most easily described as a reversed capital E, but with two lines in the center instead of one. Henri Breuil described these markings as 'cabalistic figures' after visiting La Pasiega in 1913, and was one of the first pre-historians to refer to it as an inscription. Whether these signs should be considered as part of a writing system is something that continues to generate discussion and is really part of the larger question that I'm about to try to answer for you, namely: "Is it writing?" (Von Petzinger 2016: 182-3)  

La Pasiega inscription, Spain.

Wikipedia.

" So in answer to the question 'Is it writing?' I'm afraid the answer is no. However, I do feel confident that Ice Age rock art was meaningful to those who created it and did have communicative properties; it's just that no clear recording of language is evident yet. Does this make the sequence of signs at La Pasiega an accidental occurrence? I certainly don't think so. In fact, I lean in the opposite direction. My guess is that those particular abstract markings represent an early attempt to string multiple signs together in order to create a more complex message. And while it does show that at least some Paleolithic people already understood the potential of combining signs, when it comes to the 'writing question,' the problem is that this row of geometric images was a highly unusual occurrence, not part of a flourishing system.

The question now, of course, is: If the signs were meaningful and meant to transmit information, then exactly what were they trying to say?" (Von Petzinger 2016: 189-90)

For me, the most significant part of Von Petzinger's analysis is her phrase "those particular abstract markings represent an early attempt to string multiple signs together in order to create a more complex message." (p. 189-90). It seems to me that any serious observer would have to conclude that this string of signs were purposely carefully planned and executed for exactly that purpose, to create a more complex message. I do not know if the two foot/paw prints(?) and the backward-E shape are intended to be included with the grouping on the left. Von Petzinger apparently does lump them all together based upon their proximity and identical pigment shade and color. Here, in North America, the two footprints would probably be considered to be bear paw prints, the symbol on the right I wouldn't know about. What really interests me is the grouping on the left.

First, notice that the symbols in that group on the left are lined up on top of a large rectangle as if on a stage or pedestal for a special presentation, but better than that, if they were a word precursor (that is, a group of symbols that represent an object, idea, or concept) they would be a palindrome - the same when read from either side (such as madam, or race car) - and that, I am quite sure, is no accident. From which ever side you start you have a double vertical line, truncated figure 8, a single vertical line in the middle, another truncated figure 8, and another double vertical line. Whatever these symbols represent, it is certain that their creation was the result of a deliberate and complicated cognitive process. They represent something, I just do not know what it is.

Genevieve Von Petzinger has presented her ideas in a Ted Talk, available through the following link (copy the following address and paste it into your browser):

https://www.ted.com/talks/genevieve_von_petzinger_why_are_these_32_symbols_found_in_ancient_caves_all_over_europe

I do recommend the Von Petzinger book, The First Signs, Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols, it is an interesting and fun read.

NOTE: Illustrations in this column were retrieved by a Google 10 search of the Internet for La Pasiega Inscription Public Domain. If any results were used that are not meant to be public domain I apologize and will be happy to give credit if you let me know.

REFERENCES:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/origins-the-journey-of-humankind/videos/inventing-graphics-on-cave-walls/

Von Petzinger, Genevieve,

2016    The First Signs, Unlocking the Mysteries of the World's Oldest Symbols, Atria Books, New York, London

Wikipedia