Eli5 How did ancient drawings in caves survive thousands of years without wearing away completely?
In: Earth Science
All of the answers so far focus on how caves are protected environments. My answer focuses on something else.
The question you posed already bakes in a bunch of survivorship bias. The ancient drawings *we have found* were found because, well… they survived. The more general question might be why do some ancient art survive while others didn’t and what blind spots does that create in our understanding of ancient art?
Lots of ancient (using the term loosely to span from prehistory through classical antiquity) art was lost because it was done without durable media (e.g. bright colors on Greek marble busts), were in sites subsequently obscured by natural elements (Maya pyramids, Nazca lines, anything in the Sahara), were destroyed by humans (Tadrart Acacus carvings), or other reasons.
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