The artists used lamp oil for light, carefully prepared pigments from natural mineral sources, and a range of techniques including blowing pigment through tubes, applying it with brushes or fingers, and using the natural contours of the cave wall to add three-dimensional depth to their images.

The tradition of carved portable objects — figurines, beads, pendants, ornaments — was equally widespread across Upper Paleolithic Europe and adjacent regions.

Female figurines have been found from the Atlantic coast of France to the Ural Mountains of Russia, spanning a geographic range of thousands of kilometers.

Personal ornaments — beads, pendants, perforated shells and teeth — have been found at virtually every well-excavated Upper Paleolithic site.

The Mal’ta tradition fits within this broader picture of Upper Paleolithic symbolic culture, while also showing specific regional characteristics.