What makes the development of ceiling paintings around the world so intriguing among the many forms of human expression since the beginning of time? Ancient Neanderthal paintings around the world, as well as static paintings of the ancient Egyptians, both provide insight into the lives of people of the time, as does the whimsy of post-Renaissance European paintings. The solidity of these pieces of inter-epochal historicity is proof of the existence of man and of how man lived his given space in a given time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, there are myriad prehistoric cave paintings that give us insight into the minds of the first humans who walked the earth. The period between 25,000 BC and 15,000 BC 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 known to them on the cave ceilings. What is considered interesting is the fact that these illustrations represent live 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 carbon) are the primary colors used by these Paleolithic artists and there is evidence to support that the artists of the famous Lascaux caves traveled far to gain access to these materials (CHALMIN, 2003: 1487 -1740). I believe this is evidence of the beginning of man's ability to recognize and respect his surroundings. This reflects on our primal instinct to want to make sense of our surroundings through the use of images. Additionally, there are a variety of examples from ancient Egypt that support the idea that historical paintings provide evidence into the minds of people of the time. For example, the ceiling illustrations inside Senenmut1's tomb depict this very clearly due to the mystery behind the knowledge of the time. This famous tomb contains many different fragments of paintings and decorations, including images of celestial diagrams that portray the definitive understanding of star direction and constellations (including the Big Dipper we know today). The ceiling of the tomb on the southern side depicts the sky studied in 1534 BC2. If it were not for these ceiling paintings, there would be little to no understanding of the ancient Egyptians' understanding of astronomy today. (KLIMCZAK, 2016: online) Interestingly, the ancient Egyptians were one of the first known peoples to use pigments extracted from the indigo plant to achieve a dark blue color in their paintings. (VAN SCHOOR, 2013: online3) All this evidence clearly indicates that the ancient Egyptians thought in very pragmatic ways that were undoubtedly ahead of their time.1Senenmut was an architect, government official and astronomer during the 18th Dynasty of 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 tomb ceiling, Mars is not illustrated in any form. Astroarchaeologists have come to the conclusion that this would be because evidence indicates that Mars was in retrograde around the time of 1534 BC (KLIMCZAK, 2016: online) Finally, the infamous post-Renaissance painters and artists were shown to have a erudite knowledge of dynamics and form. Considering the.