New research from Tel Aviv University suggests that the absence of cave paintings in Israel may be due to the extinction of large animals in the region. Unlike in Europe, where prehistoric humans painted large game on cave walls, these animals were already extinct in the Levant, so there was no need to portray them for shamanic rituals. The absence of cave art in the Levant has long been a mystery, as humans in the region had the cognitive ability and tools to create art. The researchers propose that cave paintings in Europe were created as part of shamanic rituals to ask for solutions to the extinction of large animals, which were their main food source.