What colors are used in cave art?

Answer 1

Cave men and other prehistoric humans like Neanderthals would have used the colours: red and black.

Red was used because it was easily gathered from blood. It was also a strong colour, so it did not wash away very easily. Blood stains very well, so it would have been good for the stone wall of a cave.

Black was a colour easily collected from rocks. Cave men would have used black also because the colour is strong and easily assessable.

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Red: Blood - wrong. Blood turns brown and degrades very quickly. The red - and yellow - pigments are ochre (clay-like iron compounds). Black: charcoal, though I dare say some caves may have yielded manganese "wad", which is a black, silt-like deposit. The artists also chose cave walls that stayed dry!