Cave painting (c30,000BC) – 1000 Inventions and Discoveries
Dramatic paintings made by people living more than 30,000 years ago lay forgotten until 1879, when a little girl, Maria de Sautuola, visited the caves at Altamira in Spain with her father. She noticed the huge paintings of animals high above her head.
Since then, even earlier paintings have been discovered at Chauvet in France. The artists of these early paintings had to invent paint, brushes, scaffolding, and even artificial lighting before they could begin painting.