Prehistoric Cave Paintings And Stone Carvings

In addition to stamps, South Africa has stone paintings on the current set of banknotes.

Here is one in high resolution.

...and phone cards

Cave paintings, Guinea Bissau, 2012.




Issued in a sheet.

The Bhimbetka rock shelters in central India, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2003), feature paintings from the Paleolithic to the Iron Age (c. 30,000 BCE – 1,000 CE) depicting animals, hunts, and daily life, among the earliest expressions of human art in South Asia.

Niger 2016 and Guinea Bissau 2012.

Rock paintings and carvings in Botswana.

Rock paintings from South West Africa (today Namibia), 1976.






Philatelic service brochure with descriptions.

The Coa Valley Archaeological Park (Vale do Coa) in northeastern Portugal contains one of Europe's largest open-air collections of prehistoric rock art. The engravings, carved into schist cliffs along the Coa River, date from the Upper Paleolithic (c. 22,000 – 10,000 BCE) to later prehistoric and historic periods. They depict horses, aurochs, ibex, and other animals, as well as geometric figures, illustrating the artistic and symbolic traditions of early hunter-gatherer societies. The site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998.

Rock art of the Coa Valley Archaeological Park, Portugal, 1998.

The Tibesti Mountains in northern Chad contain numerous sites with prehistoric rock engravings and paintings dating from around 5000 BCE to the early historic period. Found on volcanic rock surfaces and shelter walls, these images depict cattle, wild animals, human figures, and geometric patterns. The Tibesti rock art forms part of the wider Saharan tradition that records major environmental and cultural changes in North Africa's prehistoric past.

Tibesti prehistoric art, Chad, 1962.

Cave paintings, Togo, 2013.

- Lascaux Cave, France
- Niaux Cave, France
- Chauvet Cave, France
- Font de Gaume, France





SS - Stamp: Cave of the horses (Cueva de los Caballos) - not Altamira as written. Margin - early Cro-Magnon painters in Font de Gaume, France

The SS margin design based on paintings by the American paleoartist Charles R. Night (1874 – 1953).

Norbert Casteret (1897–1987) was a French speleologist whose discoveries transformed the study of prehistoric art. In 1923 he explored the Grotte de Montespan, uncovering Paleolithic clay sculptures and engravings that deepened understanding of early human creativity. His explorations and writings linked cave science with archaeology and brought prehistoric art to public awareness.

Norbert Casteret, France, 2000.

issued in a booklet with other French explorer stamps.

Rock paintings, Chad, 1998.



Cave painting, Lascaux Cave, France, Chad, 1999. Probably, not official issue.

Cave paintings, Lesotho, 1983. Descriptions on the tabs.

A small selection of stone engraving and painting stamps from North Africa.

Stone paintings from Wan Amil and Wadi Gizga (4000-3000 years ago), Libya, 1972.


Stone engravings, Algeria, 1994.


Stone paintings from Bliji mountain and Ousselet mountain, Tunisia, 2020.

Cave paintings, Mozambique, 2011.

- Chauvet Cave, France,
- Lascaux Cave, France
- Altamira Cave, Spain
- Niaux Cave, France









SS - stamp features Altamira Cave paintings, Margins - Chauvet and Lascaux Cave paintings