Researchers from two United Kingdom universities studied Paleolithic and Neolithic art at sites in four countries, focusing on the animal symbols found on cave walls and in sculptures. What the researchers found was evidence, they say, that the artwork used drawings of animals to depict constellations in the night sky.

One key piece of evidence was a matching of cave art to the positions of stars as predicated by complex software. The researchers used chemical dating techniques on the paint in certain cave paintings to determine when the paint was applied, then turned to computer-generated calculations of where certain stars would have been in the night sky at that point in history. What the researchers found was one match after another.

The paintings examined include one of the most well-known ancient cave art works, the Shaft Scene (left) from the Lascaux caves in France. Detailed analysis of the art, which features a dying man and a number of animals, suggested that the cause of death was probably a strike by a comet, known to have occurred in or around 15200 B.C.

A comet strike was also the focal point of a stone carving at Gobekli Tepe, in what is now Turkey. That celestial event occurred about 11000 B.C. and is thought to have brought about a miniature ice age.

The analysis included inspections of art works in Germany and Spain as well. In each case, the researchers found the same clues as to the reasons behind the inclusion and placement of animals on the walls or sculptures.

It wasn't just cave paintings, either. One of the oldest discovered sculpture, the Lion-Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave, which dates to 38000 B.C., showed evidence of using this same ancient form of timekeeping.

Results of the study appear in the Athens Journal of History.