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The early Stone Age figurine of Berekhat Ram (Birkat Ram), discovered in hills north of Israel, is believed to be one of the oldest pieces of prehistoric sculpture known to archeology. Although initially highly controversial - as some paleontologists preferred to see it more as a product of natural erosion rather than a deliberate human act of creativity - its status now seems more secure following the discovery of a second similar and contemporaneous figurine - the Venus of Tan-Tan, in Morocco.

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Diepkloof Eggshell Engravings (c.60,000 BCE)

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Diepkloof Eggshell Engravings (c.60,000 BCE)

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Diepkloof Rock Shelter is a prehistoric cave in Western Cape, South Africa, which contains some of the oldest Stone Age art on the planet. Recently, researchers from the Department of Archeology at the University of Cape Town, and the Institute of Prehistory and Quaternary Geology at the University of Bordeaux, have found a series of prehistoric engravings incised in Ostrich eggshells, which date back as far as 60,000 BCE.

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El Castillo Cave Paintings (c.39,000 BCE)

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El Castillo Cave Paintings (c.39,000 BCE)

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The Cave of El Castillo (Cave of the Castle), is a Stone Age rock shelter in Spain which contains the oldest cave painting yet discovered: namely, a panel of abstract signs and hand stencils rock art located in the "Gallery of the Hands", one of which (a disk of red ochre) has been Uranium/Thorium dated by Dr. Alistair Pike of Bristol University, to at least 39,000 BCE.

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Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel (38,000 BCE)

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Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel (38,000 BCE)

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One of the treasures of Prehistoric art from the period of Aurignacian art, the Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel is an ivory carving of a lion-headed figure, and is recognized as the oldest known anthropomorphic animal carving in the world. It was discovered in a cave in Hohlenstein Mountain, located in the Swabian Jura of southwest Germany. Following carbon dating tests on earth in which this item of prehistoric sculpture was found, it has been dated to approximately 38,000 BCE, making it the earliest art of its type (male figure) in Europe

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A unique item of prehistoric sculpture created during the Aurignacian culture of the Upper Paleolithic, the small ivory carving of a female figure known as The Venus of Hohle Fels (also called the Venus of Schelklingen) was unearthed during excavations in 2008 at Hohle Fels Cave in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany. It is dated to the period 38,000-33,000 BCE, which makes it the oldest of all the Venus figurines and the earliest undisputed example of figurative art known to archeology.

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Altamira Cave Paintings (34,000-15,000 BCE)

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Altamira Cave Paintings (34,000-15,000 BCE)

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Located in northern Spain, not far from the village of Antillana del Mar in Cantabria, the Upper Paleolithic cave complex at Altamira is famous for its magnificent multi-coloured cave painting, as well as its rock engravings and drawings. It is one of seventeen such caves unearthed along the mountains of North Spain near the Atlantic coast, on the main migratory route from the Middle East, which followed the North African coast, crossed the sea at Gibraltar and led through Spain into France. Other important Cantabrian sites of Ice Age cave art include the El Castillo Cave (c.39,000 BCE), and the Pasiega Cave (c.16,000 BCE), as well as La Pileta Cave (18,000 BCE) (Malaga) and Tito Bustillo Cave (14,000 BCE) (Asturias).

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Ubirr Rock is a world-famous site of Aboriginal rock art, on the edge of the Nadab floodplain in the traditional lands of the Gagudju people. Ubirr (also known as "Obiri Rock") is the best-known site of Aboriginal prehistoric art in Kakadu National Park, Arnhem Land, in Australia's Northern Territory, although there are other rock-face galleries in the region, such as those at Nourlangie. Some of Ubirr's Stone Age art is believed to date to the era of Paleolithic art, perhaps as far back as 30,000 BCE or even earlier. However, as in the case of the Burrup Peninsula rock art, this is merely a general estimate, as no painting at Ubirr has actually been carbon-dated to such an early period. Indeed, the bulk of the artworks were almost certainly created during the later periods of Mesolithic Art (about 10,000-6,000 BCE) and Neolithic Art (about 6,000-2,000 BCE), and throughout the modern era.

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Venus of Dolni Vestonice (26,000 - 24,000 BCE)

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Venus of Dolni Vestonice (26,000 - 24,000 BCE)

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The Czech prehistoric sculpture known as the Dolni Vestonice (Vestonicka Venuse) is the oldest known work of terracotta sculpture in the world. Belonging to the genre of Venus figurines carved predominantly during the era of Gravettian art, this astounding item of prehistoric art was found at a Stone Age settlement in the Moravian basin south of Brno, in the Czech Republic. Like the famous Venus of Willendorf (c.25,000 BCE), the Venus of Dolni Vestonice now resides in the Vienna Natural History Museum

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The Apollo 11 Cave is one of the oldest sites of prehistoric art in Africa. Situated in the Huns Mountains of south-western Namibia, it was named after the Apollo 11 spaceship in July 1969, by the German archeologist Wolfgang Wendt, who led the team of scientists and researchers that excavated the cave. The cave is famous for containing some of the oldest mobiliary art ever found on the African continent: namely, seven small stone slabs decorated with charcoal and ochre images of animals. The presence of charcoal in the sediment surrounding the painted stones was carbon-dated to 25,000 BCE, making them the earliest art in Africa after the Blombos Cave Engravings (c.70,000 BCE) and the Diepkloof Eggshell Engravings (c.60,000 BCE).

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The Cosquer cave is home to a unique cache of prehistoric art on the south coast of France. Occupied by Stone Age artists during the early period of Gravettian art, it can now only be entered through an underwater tunnel whose entrance is some 40 metres below sea level. This is because when it was first decorated, during the last Ice Age glaciation, around 25,000 BCE, a vast amount of frozen water was stored in polar regions with the result that sea levels were 120 metres (400 feet) lower than they are today. As a result, about three quarters of the cave painting has been destroyed. As in the case of the contemporaneous Pech-Merle Cave paintings, scientists have determined that Cosquer's cave art was created during two main phases. The oldest artworks - hand stencils, handprints and some animal engravings - were done during the Gravettian, while the rest of the animal engravings and paintings were completed during the following period of Solutrean art, from 19,000 BCE onwards. Together with the Abri Castanet Engravings (35,000 BCE) in the Dordogne, the Chauvet Cave Paintings (30,000 BCE) and the Grotte des Deux-Ouvertures in the Ardeche, Pech-Merle and Roucadour Cave (24,000 BCE) in the Lot, Cosquer contains some of the oldest Stone Age art in France.

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Pech-Merle Cave Paintings (c.25,000 BCE)

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Pech-Merle Cave Paintings (c.25,000 BCE)

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An important site of Franco-Cantabrian cave art, Pech-Merle is situated some 20 miles east of Cahors, in the Midi-Pyrenees region of France, and contains some of the most spectacular examples of prehistoric art in the world. Dating to 25,000 BCE, Pech-Merle's parietal art ranks with the Abri Castanet Engravings (35,000 BCE), the Chauvet Cave Paintings (30,000 BCE) and the engraved drawings at Grotte des Deux-Ouvertures (c.26,500 BCE) as the oldest art in France. It is particularly famous for its polychrome cave painting known as "The Dappled/Spotted Horses of Pech-Merle" which is accompanied by numerous hand stencils. Other highlights include "The Black Frieze" and the "Wounded Man" with its abstract signs of the Aviform or Placard type. Archeologists believe that the cave's rock art was completed in three phases: the first two occurred during the eras of Gravettian art and Solutrean art, between about 25,000 and 17,000 BCE

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The prehistoric ivory carving, known as the Venus of Moravany, is one of many Venus Figurines produced during the period of Gravettian art of the upper Palaeolithic (33,000-15,000 BCE). These extraordinary statuettes - the first European-wide type of prehistoric sculpture - were carved in a wide variety of materials, including soft stone, bone, ivory, wood, or ceramic clay, and typically depicted an obese (or pregnant) woman. Believed to be some kind of fertility symbol, examples of this type of prehistoric art have been discovered at archeological sites from France to Siberia.

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Belonging to the series of Venus figurines found in countries throughout Europe - including France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, and Ukraine - the Venus of Laussel is a prehistoric sculpture carved in bas-relief, which was discovered in 1911 by J.G.Lalanne in the commune of Marquay, in the Dordogne region of southwestern France. Regarded as an unique work of Franco-Cantabrian cave art, it is now part of the permanent collection of the Musee d'Aquitaine in Bordeaux. It is one of two famous examples of relief sculpture from the era of Gravettian art. (The other is the bas-relief of a salmon in the Abri du Poisson Cave (c.23,000 BCE), also located in the French Dordogne. Other rare and important sites of Paleolithic stone reliefs include: Roc-de-Sers Cave (17,200 BCE) in the Charente; the lengthy Cap Blanc Frieze (15,000 BCE) in the Dordogne, close to the site of Laussel itself; and the frieze at Roc-aux-Sorciers (c.12,000 BCE), in the Vienne

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Abri du Poisson Prehistoric Cave (c.23,000 BCE)

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Abri du Poisson Prehistoric Cave (c.23,000 BCE)

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A famous site of Franco-Cantabrian cave art, the Abri du Poisson ("Fish Rock Shelter") is famous for its prehistoric sculpture of a salmon, dating to the era of Paleolithic art (c.23,000 BCE). Fish are rarely depicted in parietal art of the Gravettian - only ten examples are known in the entire history of cave art during the Ice Age - and this particular relief sculpture is one of the oldest representations of a fish ever found. (See also the Cosquer Cave paintings for more examples of marine life.) Although human occupation of Abri Poisson dates back to the Aurignacian era, the salmon sculpture was carbon-dated to the Gravettian after analysis of the red and black pigments that were found on top of it. The dating was further confirmed by its stylistic similarities with the Venus of Laussel (23,000 BCE, Musee d'Aquitaine, Bordeaux, France). In 1979, the Abri du Poisson was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, along with the other sites and caves in the Vezere valley. To understand how the Stone Age art at the Abri du Poisson fits into the chronology of ancient culture in Europe, see: Prehistoric Art Timeline (from 2.5 million BCE).

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Koonalda Cave is a limestone sink-hole filled with aboriginal rock art, which sits about 70 metres (235 feet) below the flat, treeless and burning hot surface of the Nullarbor Plain, South Australia. This crater-like doline contains several chambers including a main chamber similar in size to a sports stadium. Parts of the softer cave walls are densely covered with "finger-fluting" - one of the oldest forms of prehistoric art - executed in geometric-style herringbone patterns, lattices and grids covering several thousand square feet. This is not sophisticated parietal art in the manner of Lascaux or Altamira. These primitive finger markings and stick scratches - forms of which probably underlie much of Europe's famous cave painting - make up no recognizable image or symbol. But their creative expressiveness is undeniable. So far, the oldest art at Koonalda has been dated to about 20,000 BCE, but human occupation of the site has been dated to 25,000 BCE which, when added to the relatively primitive nature of the cave art, raises the strong possibility that older dates may be forthcoming.