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Scholars have traced the origins of the labyrinth back to the Paleolithic period. The many Paleolithic painted caves that have been discovered have sometimes been described as "natural labyrinths". The windings of the dark, subterranean passages through which visitors traversed were labyrinthine in essence, making access to the inner chambers difficult. Nevertheless, people are known to have visited these caves over a period of centuries or millennia. The nature of the art found in these caves, in addition to rock altars, has convinced scholars that the caves were considered sacred spaces. Evidence suggests that visitors performed spiritual rituals within them, and it is believed that the caves represented the womb of Mother Earth to the Paleolithic people. Scholars agree that entering these sacred spaces may have served as a symbolic return to the womb of Mother Earth, representing initiatory death, with subsequent emergence having symbolized "rebirth".
The aforementioned concept of initiatory death and subsequent rebirth is probably the premier concept symbolized by the labyrinth symbol as well as the earliest. The many spirals traced onto the clay walls of such Paleolithic caves as Altamira in Spain, dated to 15,000-10,000 BCE, supports this interpretation. The spiral is associated with water as a life-giving force, and indeed many of the Paleolithic caves had subterranean rivers running through them. Spirals are also associated with the concept of regeneration, through their symbolization of the snake, which is able to shed and regenerate its skin. The spirals were often painted with red ocher, which symbolized the blood of childbirth and thus life, further emphasizing their association with life and regeneration.
Ivory figurines of waterbirds displaying incised meanders were discovered in the Ukraine and date to c. 14,000 BCE.
A sandstone fish sculpture found in Malt’a in Siberia serves as an additional example from the Paleolithic period that demonstrates the association made between the spiral, as the elementary labyrinth, and the concept of life. A spiritual symbol to many cultures, the fish has also symbolized ‘life’ due to the extraordinary number of its eggs. The center of the body of the previously mentioned sandstone fish displays a "spiral labyrinthine design in the shape of a womb, with a uterine passage" (Streep, 42).
In addition to the fish and its symbolization of life, other highly symbolic images associated with precursors of the labyrinth include the snake and the bird. The prevalence of both snake and bird motifs, including the hybrid image of the Snake and Bird Goddess, evident in Paleolithic, Neolithic, and ancient art suggests they were significant symbols to the people who employed them.
The premier concept that the snake, often represented by the spiral, symbolized was that of regeneration, due to the snake’s ability to shed and regenerate its skin. An example in which this idea is emphasized is found in the ancient Greek Ouroboros, "the serpent that continuosly devoured itself tail-first while regenerating from the inside" (Wilson, 80).