Eternal struggle: Art and the philistines

4,000-year-old rock art in Venezuela may be from a 'previously unknown' culture

...It's unclear why people created this art. "It is almost impossible to get into the minds of people living so many [thousands of] years ago" Pérez-Gómez said, but "definitely these signs had a ritual meaning." 

For instance, the different depictions may be related to birth, diseases, the renewal of nature or good hunting. The places where the rock art was created "most probably had a meaning and an importance within the landscape, just as the churches have a meaning for people today," Pérez-Gómez added....

Rob's comment:

Bullshit! That's a philistine interpretation of both art and human behavior. Creating art is just something people do---have always done! Art has never required any "meaning" beyond itself. 

The above rock art was beautiful when it was created by an artist---or artists---thousands of years ago, and it's still beautiful today. That "culture" isn't "unknown," since it's human culture.