Background of painting

Painting is an art tend that originates from the earliest human civilizations. In other words, painting existed in the civilizations that gave rise to modern art. For this reason, the oldest known paintings date back to the primitive society. According to the official painting theory, the oldest known paintings were found at the Grotte Chauvet in France. They are claimed to be about 32,000 years old. They depict a lot of animals and humans hunting them. In Spain there were found the Altmira cave paintings that were done 14,000 to 12,000 BC and demonstrate bisons. In France, there was found one more cave Dordogne which contains one of the best known cave paintings.
As wee see, painting existed in the most primitive society satisfying its most basic spiritual needs. Still, the meaning of these drawings is unknown up to this time. As the caves were not inhabited, they served for seasonal rituals. One more possible meaning of paintings was their magic use. These drawings were full of hunters chasing and killing animals and dancing in circle at the same time. By means of such pictures, prehistoric men did their best to "catch" animal's soul and spirit so that it would be easier to kill them.
The most obvious explanation coming to mind is that primitive people thought that symbolic description of animals might bewitch them. This is the most evident interpretation.