Other hunter-gatherer peoples around the world were also prolific rock artists. The most famous rock art is that of ancient Europe, especially France, Spain and Portugal where sites date to the Palaeolithic Age(the European Stone Age).

The cave system of Lascaux in France is amongst the best known and has been dated to about 17 000 years ago, ten thousand years later than a recorded site found in Namibia. People believe that this is where Western rock art may have originated.
This counts against the belief that the practice of painting on rocks spread from Europe, though East Africa to southern Africa. Southern African rock art is probably an independent tradition.

Recently, it had been argued that the rock art of the Australian Aboriginal peoples may go back as far as 50 000 years. Because of difficulties involved in obtaining reliable dates, this has yet to be confirmed.

Other hunter-gatherer groups also produced large bodies of rock art. Notable examples include many American Indian groups, in both North and South America. Because America was populated by humans at a much later date, the arts of these areas are not as ancient as those of Europe, Australia and Africa.

Scandinavia has many rock-art sites where images are engraved (rather than painted) onto rock faces.

There are certain similarities between the rock arts of the world. For example red ochre was widely used as the basis for paints. Also a great deal of the art seems to have been made as part of a religious practice.
Beyond these similarities, lie immense differences in subject, style and other features.

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