Chauvet Cave's advanced ancient human art

(mehrozali) Scientists enter 30,000-year-old cave with unbelievably advanced art/paintings

Paintings found in Chauvet Cave, France

The Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave (French Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc) in the Ardèche department of southeastern France is a cave that contains some of the best-preserved figurative cave paintings in the world [1], as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life [2].

It is located near the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc on a limestone cliff above the former bed of the river Ardèche, in the Gorges de l'Ardèche.

Discovered on Dec. 18, 1994, it is considered one of the most important prehistoric art sites. On June 22, 2014, the United Nation's cultural agency UNESCO granted it World Heritage status [3].

Romania stamp (Steppe Wisent Chauvet Cave)

The cave was first explored by a group of three speleologists: Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet (for whom the cave was named) six months after an aperture now known as "Baba's Hole" (Le Trou de Baba) was discovered by Michel Rosa (aka Baba) [4].

At a later date the group returned to the cave. Another member of this group, Michel Chabaud, along with two others, travelled farther into the cave and discovered the Gallery of the Lions, the End Chamber. Chauvet has his own detailed account of the discovery [5].

Ancient lions painting found in Chauvet Cave

In addition to the paintings and other human evidence, they also discovered fossilized remains, prints, and markings from a variety of animals, some of which are now extinct.

Further study by French archeologist Jean Clottes has revealed much about the site. The dates have been a matter of dispute, but a study published in 2012 supports placing the art in the Aurignacian period, approximately 32,000–30,000 years ago.

A study published in 2016 using an additional 88 radiocarbon dates showed two periods of habitation, one 37,000 to 33,500 years ago and the second from 31,000 to 28,000 years ago, with most of the black drawings dating to the earlier period. More: Chauvet Cave

• Lascaux Cave art

20 ancient, unexplained CAVE paintings

(The Feathered Friend)

Chhattisgarh is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the 17th most populous [14]. It borders seven states:

1. Uttar Pradesh to the north,
2. Madhya Pradesh to the northwest,
3. Maharashtra to the southwest,
4. Jharkhand to the northeast,
5. Odisha to the east,
6. Andhra Pradesh and
7. Telangana to the south [15].

Formerly a part of Madhya Pradesh, it was granted statehood on Nov. 1, 2000, with Raipur as the designated state capital [16]. The Sitabenga caves in Chhattisgarh, one of the earliest examples of theatre architecture in India, are dated to the Mauryan period of 3rd century BCE. More

Oldest in Europe? Spain's caves

Centuries old Mexican cave art

Cave unexplored for 500 years reveals previously unknown Mesoamerican people 

(Discovery Future) Oct. 14, 2025: Deep within the remote mountains of Guerrero, Mexico, a team of explorers stumbled upon what they first thought was trash—only to discover it was a 500-year-old treasure hidden in the depths of a cave no human had entered for centuries. Inside Tlayócoc, the “Cave of Badgers,” archeologists uncovered 14 extraordinary artifacts crafted by a previously unknown culture now called the Tlacotepehua

 These objects—shell bracelets, stone disks, and carbonized wood—reveal a lost people who likely practiced agriculture, held sacred cave rituals, and possessed their own spiritual and artistic traditions. This discovery sheds light on a forgotten civilization that thrived in the shadow of great Mesoamerican powers like the Aztec and Maya.

• Who were the Tlacotepehua?
• Why did they vanish?
• And what do their sacred offerings tell us about their beliefs, their environment, and their place in history?

Join as we explore how this cave discovery is rewriting what we know about pre-Hispanic (pre-Columbus) Mexico, uncovering the mysteries of a people lost to time.

#archeology #archaeology #LostCivilizations #MexicoHistory #AncientArtifacts #Mesoamerica #Tlacotepehua #CaveDiscovery #AncientMysteries #TlayococCave #ArchaeologicalDiscovery #HistoryDocumentary #AncientMexico #CulturalHeritage

Peru's Nazca Lines (seen from ancient balloon)

(Dark 5 Ancient Mysteries)

• Cave Unexplored for 500 Years Reveals Previously Unknown Americas People

Humans lived, interacted with dinosaurs

VIDEO: What really happened to the Thunderbird (160 foot Pterodactyl) photo?

(The Trend Burst) AI scans expose a terrifying secret buried in Angkor Wat (temple) stones

Dinosaur of Ta Prohm on syncretic Buddhist/Hindu temple wall in Cambodia.

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As if ancient Buddhist and Mexican proof were not enough, here comes another discovery from Brazil: Ancient rock art shows humans once knew dinosaurs:

In Brazil, humans and dinosaurs met

How could cavemen have known? Unless they...

(MSN) In a remote region of Brazil, archeologists have unearthed rock art dating back approximately 9,000 years, which intriguingly depicts scenes that seem to reference dinosaurs. Found alongside ancient dinosaur footprints, this discovery challenges our [current, scientific and therefore very slow-to-change] understanding of early human awareness of now presumed-to-be-] extinct megafauna and suggests that these prehistoric humans may have interacted with or observed dinosaurs or dinosaur remnants [individuals or whole unknown species of descendants], incorporating them into their cultural expressions. More

• The history of Buddhism in Cambodia spans a number of successive kingdoms and empires. Buddhism entered Cambodia via two different streams. The earliest forms of Buddhism, along with Hindu influences, entered the Kingdom of Funan with Hindu merchants. In later history, a second stream of Buddhism entered Khmer culture during the Angkor empire when Cambodia absorbed the various Buddhist traditions of the Mon kingdoms of Dvaravati and Haripunchai. For the first thousand years of Khmer history, Cambodia was ruled by a series of Hindu kings with an occasional Buddhist king, such as Jayavarman I of Funan, Jayavarman VII, who became a Mahayanist, and Suryavarman I. A variety of Buddhist traditions co-existed peacefully throughout Cambodian lands, under the tolerant auspices of Hindu kings and the neighboring Mon-Theravada kingdoms.
• VIDEO: Mysterious Ica Stones of Peru show humans, dinosaurs (Brien Foerster)

On the walls of the famous Khmer rock art of Buddhist Cambodia, with strong Hindu and Jain syncretism, there are stone depictions of a very famous dinosaur that was only "discovered" and made popular by the West in the last century or so: the stegosaurus.

• VIDEO: Native Americans and dinosaurs shown together in ancient cave art paintings centuries before 'paleontology'

• Dinosaur of Ta Prohm
• Angkor Wat
• Angkor Thom
• Siem Reap's other temples
• Siem Reap (colonial French town)

The dinosaurs in ancient Peru

(HISTORY) Ancient Aliens: Dinosaur Secrets Revealed in Ica Stones (S4)

Evidence from Acambaro, Mexico

Many living dinosaurs were known to humans.

Moreover, a German expat bought land in Mexico which, when he surveyed it on horseback, yielded a series of ceramic figures, more than 30,000 of them. This is the Acambaro Figures Collection. Some showed cryptids, while others showed humans on the back of dinosaurs, playfully riding them. This entire collection was deemed a hoax, as if Mexican farm hands had built a ceramic workshop and fabricated the priceless works of art. Even if that's the case, HOW could Mexican farmers possibly know what dinosaur fossils -- which had not been discovered yet and had certainly not been brought into the popular imagination like they are now with cartoons like The Flintstones (pre-Mandela Effect)?

• Ica stones of Peru show dinosaurs in recent times
• Waardenburg Syndrome produces blue eyes without contact lenses
• Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Crystal Quintero (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

1,000 hidden Buddhist caves of Tibet

The oldest religious center of Tibet: A hidden world travelers have never seen, still used by monks

Tibet Travel (Tibet Vista) Oct 16, 2025: This is Jamyang from Tibet Vista, the leading Tibetan local travel agency since 1984. This video goes on a journey to three amazing places in Tibet.

• First, a hidden gem that most travelers have never seen—the religious center of the Guge Kingdom (Tholing Monastery?)
• Second, the sacred and breathtaking Manasarovar Lake
• Third, Purang County, the only place where Nepalese and Tibetans live together.

Let’s see all three places in detail so viewers can get a true sense of them and plan their future tours of Tibet.

(Living in China) Dunhuang, Western China, desert Silk Road crossroads

Dunhuang Caves, Mogao Caves, Silk Road transmission of Buddhism 

Any questions about Tibet or tours? Do not hesitate to ask. Jamyang is always happy to help. Email: jamyangtour@gmail.com. Website: tibettravel.org. Facebook: tibetvista.

Indecision '24: Journey to Election (TDS)

Indecision 2024 Recap: Journey to the Election | The Daily Show

(The Daily Show) Nov. 3, 2024: The 2024 election cycle has been a whirlwind. Jon Stewart and The Best F***ing News Team recap everything in this year's election news, from Genocide Joe Biden dropping out of the race to Don John Trump's assassination attempts to Kamala Devi Harris' word salads, combativeness, gaffes, and more. #DailyShow #Comedy

• The election is uncertain, but it might NOT be close
• Coast to Coast plans a Monday night episode of psychics, astrologers, mentalists, and other for paranormal answers on who WILL win
• Gen Z TikTok: US elections, MAGA Trump-Harris
• Saturday Night Live's Bowen Yang and Chappell Roan hold hands after controversial Moo Deng skit
• Taylor Swift cake baking competition collapses, too fat?
• DJ Trump mocks kiss@$$ Mitch McConnell's endorsement: "Painful day"
• 5 pizza chains you should avoid (and always get it gluten free)
• Time has changed (fallen back) again to standard time

The Myth of the Tortured Artist (video)

The Art Assignment, October 2018; Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The Myth of the Tortured Artist
Are artists really more tortured than the rest of us? Let's consider this myth and the studies that assess whether there might be a link between creativity and mental illness.

Artists really are A-holes. Their art is still good, probably because of it.

If anyone needs or wants help with mental or substance use disorders, contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline: (800) 662-HELP (4357): FREE, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service: samhsa.gov. 

• Special thanks to our Grandmasters of the Arts Vincent Apa and Indianapolis Homes Realty and all patrons, especially Bronze Bond, Patrick Hanna, M12 Studio, Jane Quale, and Constance Urist. To support this channel, visit: patreon.com/artassignment.

• STUDIES Karolinska Institutet, 2013: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...; Karolinska Institutet, 2011: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...; Buffalo State, 2017: sciencedirect.com/science...; Johns Hopkins U., 1990: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2...; Centers for Disease Control, 2016: cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/w... 
• ARTICLES Kay Redfield Jamison’s “Manic- Depressive Illness and Creativity”: pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a0e3...; The Real Link Between Creativity and Mental Illness”: blogs.scientificamerican.com/...; Critique of Redfield Jamison findings: scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-cont...; “The relationship between measures of creativity and schizotypy”: psychologytoday.com/files...; The latest research on creativity and the arts, June 2014: apa.org/monitor/2014/06/ar... 
• THE ART ASSIGNMENT (every other Thursday) Tumblr: theartassignment.com Response Tumblr: all.theartassignment.com, twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and reddit.

Is the Buddha's "photograph" a fake?

Maya, Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; WQ reader Nyanatusita; Borsheimarts.com; Rex Harris (sheepdog_rex/flickr.com)

A touched up photograph of a painting so lifelike that some thought it was a photo of the ghostly energetic trace of the Buddha Shakyamuni, the "Sage of the Shakya Clan." Next they'll be saying the Shroud of Turin is fake or that the Cloak of Trier, Jesus' famous garment on the cross is the wrong size for a skinny African/Egyptian/Palestinian Jew who just got back from travels in Buddhist India and Tibet (WQ).

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He does look a li'l Spanish (RB)

Stop the presses! This just in! The mysterious photograph of the Buddha, which we took as further evidence that he was Central Asian from west of Gandhara (i.e., Indo-Scythia) is apparently a fake, informs us WQ reader Nyanatusita today: 

The “curious image of the historical Buddha” that “subsequently appeared on the film [roll of a foreign tourist photographing around Bodh Gaya, India, presumably the place of the Buddha's "Great Enlightenment," Siddhartha Gautama's Maha Bodhi]” is [actually] a touched up photograph of the Buddha on the oil canvas painting called “Buddha's Temptations.”

The ascetic Siddhartha or the accomplished Buddha under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, ancient India, being tempted by sexy sylvan devas and Mara's daughters (Rex Harris).

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[It is] by the Spanish artist Eduardo Chicharro Aguera (1873-1949) finished in 1921 [and is now hanging] in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. [Evidence, need evidence? See The Buddha's Temptations, Madrid Museum by Rex Harris/sheepdog_rex/flickr.com) and Borsheimarts.com (News, 04-2014, Madrid). Yours, Nyanatusita."

Reaction

It made us hopelessly skeptical.

Thank you, (venerable) friend! You have done us a great service by bringing out the truth. If one wanted to cling to the notion that this is a "Photograph" of the Buddha one could say that since the and hand and halo are exactly the same, maybe the art Aguera was using the photo as his model. But hope springs eternal, and we would rather not push it. Let us say that the "photo" story was a hoax using this artistic rendering as its basis until such time as other evidence surfaces.

We have no need of clinging to superstitions or any beliefs because the Buddha's message, the essential Dharma, becomes self-evident to the meditator who realizes the truth and thereby becomes independent of any teacher, authority, or external source. And that essence -- enlightenment and glimpsing/touching nirvana and seeing the paths and fruits, the magga-phalas -- is why being a Buddhist is worthwhile whatever else one does or does not do, believes or does not believe. All the Buddha said was, "the Dharma is inviting." "Come and see for yourself. The truth is open for one to investigate directly."

The "Buddha's Temptations"
Borsheimarts.com

There is something about this large painted canvas "Buddha's Temptations" by Eduardo Chicharro Aguera that does not appeal to me. Perhaps it is the colors. However, the idea and the mythology does interest me (and who does not enjoy women with large cats?) I share again what the museum card said: 

Eduardo Chicharro Aguera, Madrid, 1873-1949, "Buddha's Temptations" 1921, Oil on Canvas, 2.90 x 3.66 meters. Signed and dated E. Chicharro 1921.

Detail: gorgeous, feline distractions and nagas

While serving as director of the Spanish Fine Arts Academy in Rome, Chicharro achieved his most ambitious painting, after many preparatory drawings and sketches. [It was probably one of these early sketches that served as the basis of the photo hoax rather than someone working backward for this finished oil on canvas.]

He spent five years on the canvas itself. The name Buddha means Illuminated [from the root budh or budhi, awakened, enlightened]: this young prince has wandered for years seeking the light and now receives it under a ficus [Ficus religiosa, the Sacred Fig], the sacred tree of Buddhism. Motionless and absorbed [in jhana, dhyana, samadhi], he ignores the Apsaras [sylphs, angelic celestial space or woodland maidens], daughters of Evil [Mara, the Tempter and Obstructor], who try to seduce him:
 

O, great prince, go back to Scythia and rule!

Flattery and her sister Adulation, Lust with a panther body, Tenderness [Laziness, Regret], lying at his feet, Voluptuousness on a rich red drapery....
 
Lakshmi [like the famed Buddhist nun Ven. Uppalavanna], India's answer to Venus, appears riding an elephant. Another wicked Apsara, with a many-hued veil, takes on the figure of the beautiful young wife [29-year-old Princess Bimba, known to the world as Yasodhara, who later became the famous Buddhist nun and fierce disputant Ven. Bhaddhakaccana] this prince has left behind.
 
This work was awarded the Honors Medal at the 1922 Spanish National Exhibition, and the same year Chicharro was elected a member of the San Fernando Royal Academy. Purchased in 2001 with the Giutarte Bequest. More

Seepage damages paintings in Ellora caves

Water damage to wall paintings at Ellora temple caves complex (travelpod.com)

(SIFY/ANI) The paintings at Ellora in Aurangabad, India are losing their gleam as rainwater seeps into the cave temples. Partly due to seepage and falling rocks, damage to sculptures is also being caused by lights installed inside the caves. Moisture is affecting the paintings, with the immediate effect that they are turning black.

• PHOTOS: Ellora Cave Art

There are 34 famous temples carved out of stone. The cave temples of Ellora are divided into three groups, belonging to three periods: Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain. "At Ellora you can see that Buddhism, Brahmanism, Hinduism, and Jainism, along with this the Sufi activities at Khuldabad, they go together. Everybody is bent upon passing the message of peace and love," said Morwanchikar.

The Ellora cave temples are a precious world heritage site (igougo.com).

The government has planned to construct drains in all the caves of Ellora to avoid seepage and further destruction of the sculptures, particularly during the monsoons. The ancient Ellora caves are a World Heritage Site and were constructed between the fifth and tenth centuries AD. Full story

• Report: Thailand and Cambodia vie over temple
• Fabled Burmese fighters forgotten but forgiving - They fought with the British to drive the Japanese out of Burma but now live as refugees in jungle camps astride the Thai-Myanmar border or inside their ravaged homeland, impoverished and driven from their homes in a brutal insurgency. They were made promises by the British that were fatally broken as the 65th anniversary of the Allied victory in Asia approaches on August 15.
• Postcard from Nepal (counterpunch.org)

Buddha Statue found in Afghanistan

"Buddha statue find at Afghan site"

(BBC News, 9/8/08)

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Taliban dynamited Bamiyan Buddha statues in 2001 (AFP).

A giant statue of a Buddha has been discovered in central Afghanistan, near to the ruins of the world-famous Bamiyan Buddhas.

Archaeologists say the 62 ft. statue is in a sleeping position and dates back to the 3rd Cen-tury. Other relics such as coins and ceramics were also found. In 2001, the Taliban blew up two giant standing Buddhas carved into the mountainside at Bamiyan -- once a thriving center of Buddhism.

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[Afghanistan was in a sense part of ancient "India," a region known as Gandhara. Examples of Buddhist statuary from this period, which exhibit Greco-Roman features and togas, can be found at: Norton Simon. Buddhism extended far to the west to at least Greece and north to Russia].

The statues, the tallest such standing Buddhas in the world at the time, were considered by the Taliban to be un-Islamic representations of the human form. Archaeologists are working on restoring the larger of the two Buddhas [that were blown up] in a project that is expected to take a decade.

• VIDEO: BBC in Bamiyan
• STORY: Afghanistan today

A local official in Bamiyan said the newly found statue had been badly damaged, but some parts of it, such as the neck and right hand, were in a good condition. He said measures were being taken to protect it, and it was hoped the statue would go on public display next year.

The latest find gives hope to archaeologists searching for a 900 ft. long statue recorded by a Chinese pilgrim centuries ago. Iconic Buddhist art works, now thought to be the oldest oil paintings in the world, have also been found in the caves at Bamiyan.

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Gandhara-style Buddha detail (Norton Simon)