Ice Age hunter-gatherers in Europe used cave drawings to record detailed information about the lives of animals around them, a new study claims.
Markings found on paintings dating back at least 20,000 years have long been suspected as having meaning but had not been decoded until now.
The initial discovery that the markings related to animal life-cycles was made by furniture conservator Ben Bacon.
He then teamed up with professors from two universities to write their paper.
Their findings have now been published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal.
Mr Bacon, from London, spent countless hours of his free time looking at examples of cave painting and analysing data to decipher what the markings signified.
He approached academics with his theory, which they encouraged him to pursue, and he went on to collaborate with two professors from Durham University and one from University College London. Continue reading…
