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The article compares the caves of the South Urals with those of Western European with regard to Upper Paleolithic rock paintings. Where necessary, brief comparisons are made using various parameters (placement of the ancient drawings, their topics, iconography and style). It can be concluded that the decorated caves of these two centers of Paleolithic cave art are very similar, and that the extent of the similarities cannot be explained through adopting a positios of convergence. According to the author, such similarities originated from certain periods in the Upper Paleolithic when similar natural conditions prevailed over the vast expanse of Northern Eurasia. These were favorable both for the migrations of people and for the transfer or exchange of technologies, ideas, and styles. The breakthrough of late Gravettian unity preconditioned the phenomenological affinity of Paleolithic cave art from the Atlantic Ocean to the Urals, while the roots of the Southern Ural center of Paleolithic art go back to the West European tradition.

Paleolithic art, decorated caves, Gravettian, Upper Paleolithic, Ural, Franco-Cantabrian region