Martin Sweatman of the University of Edinburgh and his colleagues compared images in the caves, previously thought to be abstract animal symbols, with computer-estimated positions of the stars in the night sky at the time each cave’s artwork was made, based upon dating of the paints. They found that the abstract images may have been used as a method for keeping track of dates, Sweatman said, by noting the position of the stars in the night sky. This knowledge could also have been used to navigate the open seas, he added. Some of the images, such as the Lascaux Shaft Scene in France, which depicts a dying man and several animals, may even record comet strikes.

Source: Archeology.com