Eli5 How did ancient drawings in caves survive thousands of years without wearing away completely?

Question

Eli5 How did ancient drawings in caves survive thousands of years without wearing away completely?

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

Basically a cave is the perfect preservation environment for a wall painting because of the lack of outside influences like temperature drops and spikes, wind, water and very few animals. This is the same reason why bones and other remains found in caves are often in very good shape for being tens of thousands of years old.