考古学家布鲁诺•戴维（Bruno David）用图片和文字讲述了这个由带有装饰的洞穴构成的神秘世界的故事，从已知最古老的绘画工具——100,000年前在南非被使用过，被发现时几乎完好无损，到欧洲冰河时代的宏伟壁画，这些壁画在今天非常有名。《洞穴中的艺术》展示了过去150年来考古探索中最令人震惊的发现，探索了从我们最遥远的祖先到近代的这些创造性成就，以及它们传达给我们的关于人类的过去和今天的信息。

Deep underground, hidden from view, some of humanitys earliest artistic endeavours have lain buried for thousands of years. The most ancient artworks were portable objects, left on cave floors. Shell beads signal that 100,000 years ago humans had developed a sense of self and a desire to beautify the body; ostrich eggshells incised with curious geometric patterns hint at how communities used art, through the power of symbols, to communicate ways of doing things and bind people together. In time, people came to adorn cave walls with symbols, some abstract, others vivid arrangements of animals and humans. Often undisturbed for tens of thousands of years, these were among the first visual symbols that humans shared with each other. However, as archaeologist Bruno David reveals, we have ways of unlocking their secrets. Sometimes these lie in the art itself, sometimes lying on the ground, or buried beneath where people have left traces of what they did, footprints of the ancestors.

In pictures and words, David tells the story of this mysterious world of decorated caves, from the oldest known painting kits, found virtually intact after their use 100,000 years ago in South Africa, to the magnificent murals of the European Ice Age that are so famous today. Showcasing the most astounding discoveries made in the past 150 years of archaeological exploration, Cave Art explores these creative achievements, from our remotest ancestors to recent times, and what they tell us about the human past and ourselves today.