Paint is more complex than it's given credit for. Besides the fact that knowing how to mix and apply a good paint today requires a head for chemistry, it's played a pivotal role in cultures around the world since prehistoric times. Prepare yourself to ace the next pub quiz or impress at the cocktail party with these lesser-known paint facts:

1. The earliest known oil paintings were found in Afghanistan. The Buddhist-themed murals in the caves of Afghanistan's Bamiyan valley are dated to around 650 A.D!

2. Face and body paint signals social status in many African cultures. Amongst people of Africa, face and body paint is used ritually to indicate age group (amongst the Nuba), a rite of passage being passed (amaXhosa and Maasai), social status (amaPondo), or courtship (Wodaabe).

3. If you're looking for green paint, you're in luck! Commercial paint manufacturers tend to supply green in more shades than usual, because the human eye distinguishes more shades of green than variations in any other colour.

4. Plato is credited with the discovery of colour mixing. This Greek philosopher was apparently the first to realise that mixing two different paint colours together will produce a third.

5. Paint can be recycled. New water-based paint can be made from recycled paints, or old paints of the same type can be mixed together to create new colours.

6. Painting used to be an Olympic sport. For the first 4 decades of the competition, medals were awarded for painting, sculpture, architecture, literature and music.