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Art is unique amongst the categories of evidence which survive from the Palaeolithic period in that it was originally structured to communicate. It is true that style is an aspect of tool-making, and the particular forms adopted in the manufacture of tools may be intended as practical innovations or as recognizable types that define distinct social groups (Wiessner 1983) but art is only communication; it has no practical use. Its purpose is to convey a message, simple perhaps, as with ornamentation, or more complex as is suggested by the repertoire of painting and engraving in caves. In a culture without a literate tradition music, mime, recital and art are the vehicles of information. Only one of these remains from the Palaeolithic and, in isolation, the visual evidence is to a certain degree illuminating and to a certain degree frustrating in that certain deductions can be made from its intrinsic features, but not an explanation of its meaning.

The figurative and schematic designs on two pieces of decorated bone from Creswell, Derbyshire are related to motifs used in later Magdalenian portable art in south-western and northern France, and are assigned to a period between 11,000–12,000 years ago on grounds of design and environmental evidence. One piece, that from Robin Hood's Cave, which is carefully engraved with complex motifs on both sides, shows handling traces indicating carriage over a period of time by one or more individuals. As the late Glacial Hunters at Creswell are thought to be nomadic, and the cave to have been inhabited only in the Summer months, the piece may have been made elsewhere and carried to Derbyshire, possibly from the continent.

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