Researchers suspected for decades that the seemingly random dots and stripes on cave paintings across Europe contained a hidden meaning, but they were unable to decipher them.
Archaeologists believe that a wave of discoveries is on the way after the code was cracked by a pioneer amateur.
The paintings were used to track the seasons of wild animals such as cattle, horses and mammoths.
It shows that the Ice Age hunter-gatherers had a grasp of both the past and the future.
The earliest known writing took at least 20,000 years to be written.
Writing wasn't a sudden invention necessitated by administration and bureaucracy in sophisticated societies, but was instead something "far more deep-rooted in human behavior."
The archaeology enthusiast behind the revelations spent years poring over dots and a distinctive Y symbol present on cave paintings at Lascaux and Altamir.
Several academics confirmed and verified Mr. bacon's findings when he finally believed he had the answer.
It's great to know that amateur archaeologists can still play an important role in understanding archaeology. Paul Pettitt, an archaeologist at Durham University who aided Mr Brown, said that it was a lesson for all academics.
Tony Freeth, a professor at University College London who previously led research that enabled the function of the ancient Greek Anti Kythera mechanism to be deciphered, was enlisted by Mr. bacon to help crack the code.
There are just under twelve and a half lunar months in a year so they don't fit into a year. Prof Freeth said, "Our own modern calendar has all but lost any link to actual lunar months."
The universality of the cave symbols was explained by the fact that the two men had to reconstruct a calendar based on meteorology.
The duo were able to figure out that the dots on the drawings were a record of the lunar months when the animals were having sex.
The paintings of aurochs had four dots on them. Four months after "bonne saison", they were having sex.
The findings were confirmed by the help of Prof Bob Kentridge, also at Durham.
The research has shown a higher level of thought among hunter-gatherers by showing that the dots were more than just a simple tally.
If it is said that this animal species will mate four lunar cycles after our agreed starting point, that is a completely different league of thought. He said that it is a real conceptualisation of time.
He hoped that it would change people's perception of paleolithic humans.
Prof Pettit said that it was only the start. The breakthrough is expected to lead to a lot of studies. The findings on another symbol related to human beings were close to being released.
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