Aboriginal mythological paintings may be found all over Australia and represent many different cultures. From time immemorial Aboriginal people have left their marks in caves on rocks and because rock is durable, we can still see today their rock paintings. Although many were made for ceremonial purposes, there are undoubtedly also markings just done for fun, like hand stencils and outlines of boomerangs. Some paintings are very ancient, executed many thousands of years ago. But not all paintings need to be that old: some were made within living memory.
 

Petra is located just outside the town of Wadi Mousa in southern Jordan. It is 260 kilometres from Amman via the Desert Highway and 280 kilometres via the King's Highway. Much of Petra's fascination comes from its setting on the edge of Wadi Araba. The rugged sandstone hills form a deep canyon easily protected from all directions. The easiest access to Petra is through the Siq, a winding cleft in the rock that varies from between five to 200 meters wide. Petra's excellent state of preservation can be attributed to the fact that almost all of its hundreds of "buildings" have been hewn out of solid rock: there are only a few free-standing buildings in the city. Until 1984, many of these caves were home to the local Bedouins. Out of concern for the monuments, however, the government outlawed this and relocated the Bedouins to housing near the adjacent town of Wadi Mousa.
 

Saipan, the administrative centre of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands,  is about a hundred miles north of Guam in the Western Pacific.

During WW2 this small island was to see one of the most bloody battles of the South Pacific. The enemy had defended caves before, but never on such a large scale. On Saipan, these caves were both natural and man-made. Often natural vegetation gave them excellent camouflage. Some had steel doors which could be opened for an artillery piece or machine gun to fire, and then retreat behind the door before return fire could take effect.  Many civilians took refuge in the caves to avoid the fierce fighting.

The Aleut people, who lived on the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska, mummified their dead by removing the organs and stuffing the cavity with dry grass. Next they laid the body in a stream, where the running water dissolved the body's fat and washed it away, leaving only muscle and skin. The body was then tied in a squatting position and dried in the open air. Once it was dry, the mummy was wrapped in several layers of waterproof leather and woven clothing and placed in a warm cave, either hanging from the ceiling or lying on a platform to keep it off the damp floor. In one Aleutian cave, archaeologists found more than 50 mummies dating back 250 years.

The Cave Temple of Dambulla in Sri Lanka who's ' history is thought to date back to around the 1st century BC when King Valagam Bahu, driven out of Anaradhapura, took refuge here. When he regained his throne he had the caves converted into a magnificent rock temple. Later kings made further improvements, including King Nissanka Malla who had the temple interior gilded, earning it the name of Ran Giri- the Golden Rock.

Tashi Kabum and Luri gompa are examples of the many cave temples in this region of Nepal. These domed, rounded grottoes are about four to five meters across, four to five meters tall, and hand carved into the mountain. Both caves originally had a single entryway and both have one small window overlooking the valley to the left of the entry. In Tashi Kabum a new passage tunnel has been crudely cut into the wall opposite to the original entryway, opening into an empty, adjacent cave that has lost its entrance due to erosion of the cliff. The walls and ceilings of both cave temples are covered in plaster and are attractively painted. In the centre of each cave is a beautifully crafted chorten surrounded by sufficient floor space for circumambulation.

The Dogon people moved to the Bandiagara Escarpment in the 15th century, successfully escaping Muslim expansion and preserving their traditions and culture. Dogon farmers have created green oases around their cliff side villages by constructing irrigation channels. The  Dogon ancestral burial caves,  span over a thousand miles of the escarpment.

In March 1944, 33 German soldiers were killed when a group of Italian Communist partisans set off a bomb close to a column of German soldiers which were marching on Via Rasella. Hitler soon made the order that within 24 hours, ten Italians were to be shot for each dead German. Nazi authorities in Rome quickly compiled a list of 330 civilians which were to be killed, many of them prisoners for petty offences or anti-fascism, many Jews and some other people also got arrested.

The victims were soon transported to the Ardeatine caves in groups of five people. They were led into the cave with their hands tied behind their back and then shot in the neck. Many were forced to kneel down over the bodies of those who had been killed before them because the cave had become filled with dead bodies. During the killings, it was found that by a mistake five more people than were supposed to had been taken, but they were killed anyway since they were already there.

The Caves at Ardeatine are not really caves but man-made. They are part of the old Christian catacomb structures along the Apian Way in this community just outside Rome.