Reply to comment

Speaking of humans' intrinsic desire to tell stories and communicate some sort of semblance of human experience, namely certain problems dealing with morality, I am reminded of the Paleolithic cave of Lascaux located in the south of France which can be dated back some 17,000 years ago. What kind of story were these people trying to tell? What did they intend to represent?

With the exception of one human figure, most of the paintings show animals presumably native to the surrounding land. These animals include horses, bison, aurochs, deer, and others. No plantlife is depicted to provide a background for the contextualization of these figures.

The purpose of these cave paintings have caused much speculation. Due to the location and sheer size of the cave paintings, some experts believe this area served as a sacred meeting point. However, this cannot be verified. Beyond the depiction of animal life, do these paintings symbolize anything more? Did these people conceive of morality? Is it really important whether they did or did not?