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Palaeolithic <index.html> : Cave Paintings <cavepaint.html>

<chauv-img1.html> is one of the latest and most brilliant sensations,
not only in archaeology, but in human culture in general. It is located
in the steep side of a cliff in the gorges of the Ardeche, a tributary
of the Rhone river. One of the famous in France natural sights, Pont
d'Arc, is situated not far from the cave. Pont d'Arc is a huge arc, cut
through a rock by the waters of the Ardeche, which forms a gigantic
single-span bridge, 60 ms high.

The cave was discovered on the 18th of December 1994 by three
speleologists - Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps and
Christian Hillaire. <chauv-img4.html> <chauv-img2.html> They had already
been experienced in exploration caves; several of them had the traces of
a pre-historic man's stay. They had seen the half-covered entrance into
an unnamed cave before but it seemed to be of a secondary interest and
was not explored. That day when Eliette wriggled into the narrow duck,
she saw a big cave about 10 metres below her - the speleologists were
certainly above a big gallery! They understood that they must return to
the van for the necessary equipment. It was already evening and they
even thought of putting the exploration off but still they took a
ladder, came back into the cave and climbed down into a wide passage.
They moved some dozens metres in the gallery and saw traces of red ochre
and a depiction of a mammoth and other beasts - a new monument of
palaeolithic paintings was before them!

<chauv-img3.html> A complete study of the cave will take several
decades. There is a succession of four big "vestibules" with about or
more than 300 paintings. They are in a remarkable state of preservation.
At present the paintings are the oldest known on the Earth (about 32
millenia). Even the first investigations shook the established notions
concerning the art of the Upper Palaeolithic period and pushed its
beginning almost 5 millenia to the back. Chauvet cave is described in
many scientific articles, not mentioning sensational materials in mass
media, a large artistic album is published and translated into the main
european languages.

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Materials concerning the Chauvet cave are given in Internet:

Researches of the cave art in France
<http://web.culture.fr/culture/respp-en.htm>
Cave art <http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~arcbooks/caveart.htm>
Chauvet cave (France)
<http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/grotte0.htm>

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