The cave paintings were created between 43,000 and 65,000 years ago, 20,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe. In 2018, researched announced the discovery of the oldest known cave paintings, made by Neanderthals at least 64,000 years ago, in the Spanish caves of La Pasiega, Maltravieso and Ardales.
Painted by modern Homo sapiens, the oldest known cave murals occur in the Upper Paleolithic rock shelters of Chauvet, Pech-Merle, Cosquer and Lascaux (Dordogne, France) and at Altamira (Cantabria, Spain).