Rock Art & Cave Paintings Database
European focus to start: Paleolithic cave paintings, engravings and early undated rock art. Search, filter, and click to enlarge with clear credits.
European Rock Art: Paleolithic Cave Paintings, Engravings & Motifs
This page is a searchable catalogue of European rock art with a focus on older material: Paleolithic cave paintings, engraved panels, carvings and early/undated motifs. Use the filters to browse by country, period and art type, or search for specific subjects such as bison, horses, hand stencils, abstract signs and geometric forms.
Each record provides a short description, a full-size image viewer, and a clear credit/license line. Over time this database can expand beyond Europe (North America, South America, Australia, etc.), including more recent Indigenous traditions where appropriate — but the starting emphasis is on early and ambiguous chronologies.
- Search across titles, sites, periods, motifs and notes.
- Filter by country, period, art type and quick motif tags.
- Enlarge images in a modal with caption, credit and source link.
The Scope of the Archive
This archive focuses on the rich heritage of prehistoric art across Europe, from the deeply hidden galleries of Franco-Cantabrian caves to open-air rock shelters and carved panels. By cataloging location, subject, technique, and age, it aims to provide a centralized resource for study, comparison, and discovery.
Categorization by Subject and Motif
Entries can be cross-referenced by recurring motifs — zoomorphic figures (bison, deer, mammoth), anthropomorphic depictions, hand stencils, and abstract or geometric signs — helping reveal shared visual language across regions.
Technique, Materials, and Preservation
Where known, records note pigments (ochre, charcoal, manganese) and methods (pecking, incising, engraving, relief). Source links are included so the context of documentation and conservation can be followed back to the originating archive or publication.
Image credits, licensing and legal notes
The prehistoric artworks catalogued here are ancient cultural heritage; however, photographs and scans may have distinct licensing terms depending on the photographer, institution or archive. Each record includes a credit line, a license/rights statement, and a source link. If you believe an image is incorrectly attributed or should not appear, please contact me and it will be corrected or removed.
Where possible, this database prioritises openly licensed or public-domain sources and includes attribution as required.