Paleolithic artists created animation.
Cave paintings have been discovered that appear to have been made with the intention of suggesting movement when firelight hits them, with paints layered in such a way that each shape is lit before the next, creating crude animation.

Supposed Stone Age thuamatropes have also been found- thin bone disks with animals in different positions on either side, that can be twirled on a string so that the images blur together and create the illusion of movement.

This means that animation was invented thousands of years before the Victorians created their own thaumatropes. It’s amazing to think about.