Evidence of Unicorns Found in Cave Paintings?

For how long do you think humans have admired unicorns? 100 years? 500 years? Even longer?

If your answer was in the ballpark of "over 10,000 years" then you're right! Unicorns are no passing trend!

In fact, the Cueva de las Manos (known as Cave of the Hands for its paintings of hands), a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Argentina, features rock art depictions of animals that are more than 10,000 years old.  Among these very old paintings of various animals is a UNICORN! It looks sort of like a very overweight goat, but it definitely has a single horn! For more information and photos, check out the UNESCO web site and the Patagonia Monsters blog, which has lots of information about depictions of unicorns in the Patagonia region.

"The Unicorn" at Lascaux Cave, France; Image credit: N. Aujoulat, MCC-CNP at www.lascaux.culture.fr

Our other unicorny cave painting is from Lascaux Cave in France and dates back to 15,000 to 10,000 BC. It might be a depiction of a unicorn or it might be a profile of a two-horned animal; only its artist knows for sure, and he or she is long gone by now. However, it is officially known as "The Unicorn," regardless of its apparent second horn. Find out more about the Lascaux Cave paintings on a virtual Lascaux Cave tour.

Do you know of any other unicorn-themed art, prehistoric or otherwise?  Send your story to The Unicorn Daily News (unicorns.blogspot[at]gmail.com), and it will be included in one of our daily feature stories!