# Prehistoric cave paintings

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prehistoric-cave-paintings/553387>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 11, 2010, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prehistoric-cave-paintings/553387 "2010-09-11T06:58:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prehistoric-cave-paintings/553387/1 "2010-09-11T06:58:31Z")

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What was used for the paint?

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**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prehistoric-cave-paintings/553387/2 "2010-09-11T07:12:07Z")

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according to the wiki article on [Lascaux](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux#The_images):

> [@](#):
>
> Most of the major images have been painted onto the walls using mineral pigments, although some designs have also been incised into the stone.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prehistoric-cave-paintings/553387/3 "2010-09-11T07:17:25Z")

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Just about whatever was available: charcoal, ground bones, berries, oxidized minerals, blood, etc.

A more interesting question would be how were the caves lit, without using up the oxygen and covering everything with smoke?

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**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prehistoric-cave-paintings/553387/4 "2010-09-11T07:26:08Z")

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> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> according to the wiki article on [Lascaux](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux#The_images):
> 
> > [@](#):
> >
> > Most of the major images have been painted onto the walls using mineral pigments, although some designs have also been incised into the stone.

Oops, I skimmed over the article before posting but didn’t see that.

**panache45** , that is a pretty good question.

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2010, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prehistoric-cave-paintings/553387/5 "2010-09-11T12:59:59Z")

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> [@panache45](#):
>
> A more interesting question would be how were the caves lit, without using up the oxygen and covering everything with smoke?

The room with most of the paintings is not especially deep in the cave and is quite large (apparently around 66’ wide and 16’ high) - so it would take a serious fire to use up the oxygen.