Why Israel Has No Cave Art: A Century-Old Archaeological Mystery Unraveled

Photo Credit: Claude Valette / Flickr

The Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave in southeastern France.

For nearly a century, archaeologists have been perplexed by an enduring enigma: the conspicuous absence of cave paintings in the Levant, including modern-day Israel. This puzzle persists despite an abundance of caves, evidence of advanced artistic skill, and shared cultural traits with regions in Europe where cave art flourished tens of thousands of years ago.

Now, a team of archaeologists from Tel Aviv University has proposed a compelling new theory. In a recent paper published in the Journal of the Israel Prehistoric Society, researchers suggest that prehistoric humans in the Levant did not create cave paintings because the primary subjects of such art—large animals—had already disappeared from the region by the time Homo sapiens arrived.

“This is a century-old mystery in Israeli archaeology,” said Professor Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University’s Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology & Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, who co-authored the study alongside Dr. Ilan Dagoni, Dr. Miki Ben-Dor, and Dr. Yafit Kedar. “Despite nearly a hundred years of excavation, not a single cave painting has been found here, while hundreds have been discovered in places like France and Spain. This discrepancy has baffled researchers for decades.”

The study (Why is Cave Art Absent from the Upper Paleolithic Southern Levant?) underscores an important point: Aurignacian humans, who lived in both Europe and the Levant around 35,000 to 30,000 years ago, shared not only cultural and technological similarities but also maintained connections across these regions. Archaeological evidence indicates a flow of migration and communication between the two populations.

“These were Homo sapiens—modern humans—who migrated out of Africa approximately 60,000 to 70,000 years ago,” said Prof. Barkai. “While many moved on to Europe, some eventually returned to the Levant. Despite this back-and-forth movement and shared culture, cave paintings emerged in Europe but not here.”

The researchers align with a widely held hypothesis that cave paintings were created as part of shamanic rituals. These rituals, often performed in the deep recesses of caves, were thought to serve as a bridge to spiritual realms—places where prehistoric humans sought solutions to existential crises, such as the dwindling populations of large game animals.

In Europe, species like woolly mammoths and rhinoceroses were vital to human survival, providing meat, fat, and materials for tools and shelter. As these animals began to disappear, early Europeans may have ventured into the depths of caves to symbolically appeal to spiritual forces for their return. The eventual disappearance of these species coincides with the decline of cave painting traditions.

In the Levant, however, this crisis never arose. Large animals such as elephants and rhinoceroses had already gone extinct by the time Homo sapiens arrived, hunted to extinction by earlier hominin species. Instead of relying on large, slow-moving prey, humans in the Levant adapted to hunting smaller and faster animals. Without the same existential dependence on large game, there was no need for rituals centered around their imagery.

“Cave paintings are often located in the most inaccessible and dangerous parts of caves, places considered sacred or otherworldly,” Prof. Barkai explained. “The absence of these paintings in Israel suggests a different relationship with the natural world—one without the acute anxiety caused by the disappearance of large animals.”

The team’s findings not only offer a plausible explanation for the absence of cave art in the Levant but also highlight a broader truth: prehistoric humans were deeply aware of their impact on the ecosystems they relied upon. The rituals and art they left behind reflect not just creativity, but also a profound response to environmental and existential challenges.

In Europe, dwindling herds of mammoths spurred a spiritual and artistic crisis etched onto cave walls. In the Levant, continuity rather than crisis shaped the human experience—and with it, a different kind of legacy left behind in stone.