As wanderlust art historians, our journey begins in the years 40,000-2,300 BCE with the Paleolithic period. This Stone Age predated the documentation of historical events. Paleolithic artifacts have been discovered everywhere from the continent of Africa, to France and Spain, and reflect a time when humans  work with stone, the most important tool they used, and lived as nomadic hunter gatherers. The Neolithic era, when mankind began to settle in more fixed societies spead to surrounding areas of Great Britain, and eventually spread to Anatolia and Mespotamia.

The Hall of Bulls at Lascaux is one of the oldest collection of Paleolithic cave paintings at more than 17,000 years old. Incredibly difficult to access, the Lascaux cave is now closed to the public but there is a replica nearby for visitors to see.

Discovered in 1879, The caves at Altamira depict bison in different positions and angles. Similar to the other prehistoric cave paintings, artists would have used ground minerals like charcoal, red and yellow ocher mixed with water.

Scientists happened upon the prehistoric cave located in Namibia at approximately the same time that the Apollo 11 astronaut crew safely returned to Earth on July 24, 1969.  So that's where the name comes from, but what did they discover? Seven fragments between 1969-1972 were found inside the cave. Once placed together, some of the fragments showed a left-facing animal.

Visit the Vienna Museum of Natural History that displays one of the famous Paleothic figures, the Venus of Willendorf. Only 4 1/2 inches tall, the figure would have been handheld and most likely functioned as a fertility figure.

Located in the city of Jericho, the Neolithic settlement in Jericho contains the Jericho tower, a near 30 foot structure built during the Neolithic period. Let's compare it to artworks from the Paleolithic period: The Jericho Tower is indicative of a fixed settlement and therefore in stark contrast to the hunter gatherer lifestyle of the Paleolithic man. In a relatively short period of time, man evolved from nomads to stationary settlements focused on crops and irrigation.

The Neolithic Temple at Gobekli Tepe in Sanliurfa, Turkey is the world’s oldest found religious complex (9000 BCE). Although the site was discovered in the 1960s, thorough excavation did not begin until 1995. The site contains 20 circular structures with monolithic T-shaped stone pillars that are covered with shallow reliefs depicting animals, birds, and insects. One of the reasons the discovery of the site is so important is it indicates people from the pre-pottery Neolithic era constructed stone temples before they established permanent community settlements. Take a look at the sophisticated relief carvings on one of the pillars below: