In Southwest France in the 1940s, playing children discovered Lascaux Grotto, a series of narrow cave chambers that contain huge prehistoric paintings of animals. Many of these beasts are as large as 16 feet. Some follow each other in solemn parades, but others swirl about, sideways and upside down. The animals are bulls, wild horses, reindeer, bison and mammoths outlined with charcoal and painted mostly in reds, yellows and browns. Scientific analysis reveals that the colours were derived from ochre and other iron oxides ground into a fine powder. Methods of applying colour varied: some colours were brushed or smeared on rock surfaces and others were blown or sprayed. It is possible that tubes made from animal bones were used for spraying, because hollow bones, some stained with pigment, have been found nearby.
What are the bones found in the Lascaux caves believed to indicate?
