What did Nicolas poussin use for his painting?

"The rape of the Sabine Women"

His media were oil paint and canvas. He brushed the oil paint on to the canvas.

you want to use canvas to paint on. You can also (weird as it may sound) use smooth wood boards, as long as you use Gesso (a white paint) to 'primer' the board.

They had no other way of communication before language was developed.