Prehistory
Côa Valley Rock Art: Portugal's Open-Air Ice Age Engravings
A planned dam was abandoned in 1995, the Côa Valley Archaeological Park was created in 1996, and the site joined the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1998.
Region
Europe
Prehistory
Venus of Laussel: The Palaeolithic Woman with the Horn
Found in 1911, the relief became one of the best-known images of Ice Age art and a focus of debates about fertility, calendars and symbolism.
Prehistory
Venus of Brassempouy: The Ice Age Lady with the Hood
Found in 1894, the ivory head became one of the most famous works of Palaeolithic art and an early example of a realistic human face.
Prehistory
Lascaux Cave Paintings: Ice Age Art in the Dordogne, France
Rediscovered in 1940, the cave became the best-known example of Palaeolithic art; it was closed to the public in 1963 to protect the paintings.
Prehistory
Font-de-Gaume Cave: Polychrome Bison Still Open to Visitors
Font-de-Gaume became a key site for the study of Ice Age art and is one of the last caves with polychrome paintings still open to the public.
Prehistory
Tuc d'Audoubert Clay Bison: Unique Ice Age Sculptures in Ariège
The two clay bison became the most famous unfired clay sculptures of the Ice Age; the cave remains closed and privately protected.
Prehistory
La Marche Engraved Stones: Ice Age Human Faces from France
The engraved slabs, once doubted, became accepted as the largest group of realistic human portraits in Ice Age art.
Prehistory
Mezhyrich: The Mammoth-Bone Dwellings of Ice Age Ukraine
Mezhyrich became the best-known example of mammoth-bone architecture, showing how Ice Age people lived on the cold steppes of eastern Europe.
Prehistory
Cave of the Trois-Frères and the 'Sorcerer' Ice Age Figure
The cave's engraved Sanctuary and its 'Sorcerer' figure became central to debates about religion and shamanism in Ice Age art.
Prehistory
Niaux Cave: The Salon Noir and Magdalenian Art of Ariège
Niaux became one of the best-known painted caves of the Magdalenian period and one of the few original decorated caves in France still open to small guided groups.
Prehistory
Creswell Crags: Britain's Only Known Ice Age Cave Art
The 2003 discovery of engravings in Church Hole gave Britain its first confirmed Palaeolithic cave art.
Prehistory
Swimming Reindeer: Ice Age Sculpture in Mammoth Ivory
The carving became one of the best-known works of Ice Age art and a key object in the British Museum's prehistory collection.