What makes the development of ceiling paintings across the world so intriguing among the many forms of human expression since the dawn of time? Ancient Neanderthal paintings from around the world, as well as static paintings by the ancient Egyptians, provide insight into the lives of people of the time, as does the extravagance of post-Renaissance European paintings. The solidity of these elements of inter-period historicity is proof of the existence of man and the way in which he experienced the space given to him at a given moment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay First of all, there are a myriad of prehistoric cave paintings that give us a glimpse into the minds of the first humans to walk the earth. The period from 25,000 to 15,000 BCE proposed various new struggles for humans due to the cold temperatures of the Ice Age. The first known culture to master these extreme temperatures was the Gravettian culture. These people gathered in caves (for reasons still unknown) where artists of the time painted illustrations of animals they knew on the ceilings of the caves. What is considered interesting is the fact that these illustrations depict living and dynamic animals and it seems that the artists have practiced their skills thoroughly (CHING, 2017: 2). Red (iron oxide) and black (manganese oxides or charcoal) are the main colors used by these Paleolithic artists and there is evidence to show that the artists of the famous Lascaux caves traveled far to access these materials (CHALMIN, 2003: 1487). -1740). I believe this is proof of the beginning of man's ability to recognize and respect his environment. This reflects our primal instinct to want to make sense of our surroundings through the use of images. Additionally, there are a variety of ancient Egyptian examples supporting the idea that historical paintings provide evidence into the minds of the people of the time. For example, the illustrations of the ceiling of the tomb of Senenmut1 show this very clearly because of the mystery behind the knowledge of the time. This famous tomb contains numerous fragments of paintings and decorations, including images of celestial diagrams that illustrate a definitive understanding of the direction and constellations of stars (including the Big Dipper that we know today). The ceiling of the tomb on the south side represents the sky studied in 1534 BC2. Without these ceiling paintings, there would be little or no information today about the extent of Egyptian understanding of astronomy. (KLIMCZAK, 2016: online) Interestingly, the ancient Egyptians were one of the first known people to use pigments extracted from the indigo plant to achieve a dark blue color in their paintings. (VAN SCHOOR, 2013: online3) All of this evidence clearly indicates that the ancient Egyptians thought very pragmatically and undoubtedly ahead of their time.1 Senenmut was an architect, government official, as well as an astronomer in the 18th dynasty. Ancient Egypt. (KLIMCZAK, 2016: online)2 Although most of the planets we know today (Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn) are all depicted very clearly on the ceiling of the tomb, Mars is not illustrated in any form . Astroarchaeologists have come to the conclusion that this is because evidence indicates that Mars was in retrograde around 1534 BC. (KLIMCZAK, 2016: in.