The work was discovered on a collapsed roof of a rock shelter at the Abri Castanet site in the Vézère River valley in southwest France. Humans at the time lived in such shelters, Dr. White said, and it was a period of cultural naissance.

“They were working with ivory beads and other personal ornamentation,” he said. “They were decorating their bodies in complex ways.”

Dr. White and his team are continuing their excavation work at the site and hope that by deciphering more of the art, they can understand the culture of the people better.

“What we hope to be able to do is map the distribution of images on the ceiling and all of the activities of the time,” he said. “There may be a relationship between the art on the ceiling and their lives.”