What were the earliest forms of art

A. We associate cave paintings with the earliest presence of humans and their artistic abilities. In fact, cave painting has never ceased as a form of artistic self expression. The Dunhuang caves on China's Silk Road were started by a lone monk in 366AD. He turned the walls of his dwelling place into a shrine to the Buddha, with paintings, icons and plaster frescoes.

These were allowed to decline from the twelfth century onwards, but were redisovered in the twentieth century. There are 492 painted caves that can be visited at Dunhuang.

Q. What about body paint
A. Face make-up and body adornment with either paint or jewellery is a tradition dating back thousands of years. Think of Cleopatra and those eyes. The current fashion for tattooing has a long and distinguished artistic history. It started with the use of Henna, stilll used today, to adorn a woman's body for ritual celebrations, such as a marriage.

Q. Wasn't religion a great artistic inspiration

A. The greatest. In fact, it was once thought that the only justification for artistic expression was to glorify God, or a god. Some of the world's oldest and best forms of early art appear on the walls of churches as frescoes or as statues, or as illustrations to religious texts. These are known as illuminated manuscripts.

Q. Sculpture must have been important too
A. Sculpture was what everybody could do and was therefore the most accessible form of artistic self-expression. All you needed was some clay, your hands and a hot sun or oven. Some of the most delightful sculptures are those that were used in early pagan worship depicting a rotund female form, which was thought to bring the blessing of fertility and a rich harvest on the land.

Q. What about art forms that haven't stood the test of time
A. Sand sculpture must have been done thousands of years ago only to be washed away by every tide. It is the same with ice sculpture and rock carving. We believe they must have been done, but the evidence has not survived.

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By Nicola Shepherd