Heller Cave Paintings
Welcome to Solaris, traveller! This is a slower-than-light science fantasy set in our own solar system.
About Solaris | Guide to Solaris | Prologue
About Solaris | Guide to Solaris | Prologue
The Heller Cave system is the site of the oldest known figurative art in the Sol System, a series of cave paintings made by humans over fifty thousand years ago. The cave system itself consists of a series of lava tubes from Rhea's distant past as a geologically active planet. The walls of the caves have crusted over with long-dried lava, creating a more stable surface in the ice.
The mouth of the Heller Cave systems contain hundreds of negative hands. While some of the hands lack a finger or two, they are all consistent with human hand structure. It is possible this was a ritual to protect and ward the cave, or perhaps a way of keeping track of the people who lived in the cave.
The most famous of the Heller Cave Paintings is found deeper in, depicting what is believed to be an astracetean migration. The astracetean painting is thousands of years younger than the negative hands. Some theorize that these are depictions of a now extinct smaller cousin of the Deep Space Leviathans, similar to the whales descibed in Rhean folk tradition that lived between the planets rather than in deep space.
Several of the Heller Cave paintings depict human figures, often hunting flightless birds and other Rhean wildlife. These paintings are the earliest definite proof of human presence.
Cave Paintings
by Annie Stein
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I love this so much.
Thank you! I loved it too, it wasn't part of the plan but once I had the idea I just had to make this article.