What tools might painters have used?

Fingers, pads of hair or moss and hollow bones

Why was Lascaux closed to the public?

Visitors' breath and microbes damaged it

Cave Painting Pigments Quiz: Ochre, Charcoal and Manganese

This cave painting pigments quiz grinds earth into color by lamplight. Play 10 interactive questions on red and yellow ochre, black from charcoal and manganese oxide, binders of water and fat, painting with fingers, brushes and blown pigment, hand stencils, stone lamps, radiocarbon dating and why Lascaux had to close to the public.

Start Cave Painting Pigments Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Red
Which mineral pigment gave red and yellow colors?
Black
What made black pigments?
Bind
What could bind pigments?
Stencil
How were hand stencils made?
Tools
What tools might painters have used?
Light
How did painters see deep inside caves?
Date
How can charcoal paintings be dated?
Lascaux
When was Lascaux discovered?
Close
Why was Lascaux closed to the public?
Replica
What do visitors see today instead?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which mineral pigment gave red and yellow colors?
Answer: Ochre
Iron-rich earth.
Q2: What made black pigments?
Answer: Charcoal and manganese oxide
Both were used.
Q3: What could bind pigments?
Answer: Water or animal fat
Mixed by hand.
Q4: How were hand stencils made?
Answer: Blowing pigment around a hand
Leaving a hand outline.
Q5: What tools might painters have used?
Answer: Fingers, pads of hair or moss and hollow bones
Simple tools.
Q6: How did painters see deep inside caves?
Answer: Stone lamps burning animal fat
Lamps were found at Lascaux.
Q7: How can charcoal paintings be dated?
Answer: Radiocarbon dating
Charcoal contains carbon.
Q8: When was Lascaux discovered?
Answer: 1940
By teenagers.
Q9: Why was Lascaux closed to the public?
Answer: Visitors' breath and microbes damaged it
In 1963.
Q10: What do visitors see today instead?
Answer: Precise replicas
Lascaux IV opened in 2016.

Ochre, Charcoal and Lamplight

Ice Age artists used simple but lasting pigments. Ochre, iron-rich earth, gave reds and yellows, while charcoal and manganese oxide made black. Pigments were mixed with water or animal fat and applied with fingers, pads of hair or moss, or blown through hollow bones.

Blowing pigment around a hand left hand stencils, among the most personal marks of prehistoric people. Deep in caves, painters worked by the light of stone lamps burning animal fat, some of which were found at Lascaux. Charcoal images can be dated with radiocarbon methods.

Lascaux in France was discovered in 1940 by teenagers. Visitors' breath and microbes began damaging the paintings, so it closed to the public in 1963. Today visitors see precise replicas such as Lascaux IV, opened in 2016.

What This Quiz Teaches

History fans will enjoy these questions.

Which pigments were used
How they were applied
How caves were lit
How paintings are dated
Why Lascaux closed

Did You Know?

Animals dominate many cave paintings.
Some images use rock bulges for depth.
Pigments were ground on stone.
Many caves are in France and Spain.
Hand stencils appear worldwide.