Today marks the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the ‘Chauvet’ cave in Ardèche, which is sometimes nicknamed the ‘prehistoric Sistine Chapel’ due to its extraordinary paintings.
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes caves were discovered on Sunday, December 18, 1994 by three French speleologists - caver friends Jean-Marie Chauvet, Éliette Brunel and Christian Hillaire - and would go on to revolutionise paleontologists’ understanding of prehistoric art, reports FranceInfo.
In 2014, 20 years after their discovery, the caves were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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30th anniversary visit
Unlike the Lascaux caves in Dordogne, the Chauvet caves have never been opened to the public. Only a few are permitted to enter each year to study the caves, when carbon dioxide levels are not too high.
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Yet, in April 2015, then-President François Hollande inaugurated its replica, which took almost four years to complete. The aim was to enable visitors to see the cave’s findings, without damaging the real cave.
The copy, called Chauvet 2 Ardèche, is not a perfect reproduction, but instead a selection of chosen pieces from the real cave, especially decorated panels, created by the Alain Dalis workshop (which is located in Dordogne) and by prehistoric painter Gilles Tosello.
Today (December 18), to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the discovery, the Chauvet 2 cave is holding ‘an exceptional free open day’.
Registered visitors will be able to take a self-guided tour of the replica from 14:30, and, at 16:00 and 17:00, they will be able to meet Mr Chauvet and Ms Brunel in the conference centre (Mr Hilaire is unable to attend).
After the screening of a 33-minute film entitled La Découverte, the two will sign books and autographs, and tell the story of the incredible day that changed their lives forever.
They may also answer the question of why, when three people discovered the caves, they are known only by the name ‘Chauvet’. The response is simple, said Ms Brunel to Vanity Fair magazine once.
“It was [Mr Chauvet’s] idea to go there,” she said.
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Incredible discovery
The discovery dates back to 1994.
The caves are around 3 km away from Pont d’Arc, a beautiful natural arch through which runs the Ardèche river. It attracts thousands of tourists a year, especially canoeing enthusiasts.
Yet, on that day in 1994, the three friends decided to investigate a small hole in a mountain rock, which they found after a 45-minute climb.
They had already spotted prehistoric engravings and drawings nearby, and wondered if there could be more elsewhere. This ‘hole’ had air coming out of it, suggesting a larger cave inside.
Despite the difficult access, Mr Chauvet insisted on continuing the exploration, and Ms Brunel, the smallest of the three, squeezed in first, almost on her stomach. The other two cleared away rock debris from the entrance for three hours, and eventually, Ms Brunel could see a large cavity opening up ahead.
The trio went back to their vehicle to get a caving ladder, and descended into the cavity, where they discovered the incredible cave, decorated with prehistoric paintings and sparkling calcite crystals. Wearing dim headlamps, the trio still had no idea of the magnitude of their finding.
It was only later that the cave was declared to be the oldest decorated cavern in the world, dating back to the Palaeolithic period. The space had been well-preserved due to the limestone cliff entrance having been blocked for 21,500 years.
Twice as old as Lascaux
Jean Clottes was the first prehistorian and specialist in cave art to assess the Chauvet cave, and scientific studies eventually dated the oldest drawings there to 38,000 years (almost twice as old as the cave paintings found in the famous Lascaux cave, which date back 20,000 years).
The cave extends into the cliffs for 200m2, but has a total surface area of 8,500 m2 (the equivalent of three football pitches). The Hilaire chamber is 18 metres high, while the Bauges chamber is 10 metres. Others are so low that an adult cannot stand up in them.
The paintings show more than 400 species of animals, including some that do not feature anywhere else, including an owl and a panther. There are also palm prints, images of a hyena and bears, a seven-metre section dedicated to horses, and an impressive fresco of lions.
The art shows evidence of complex techniques such as blurring, stencilling and perspective; and pigments used include charcoal, red ochre and manganese.
Bear nests
The cave has also been found to have been a regular haunt for the now-extinct cave bear, and almost 300 ‘bauges’ (cave bear nests) have been identified.
The walls have evidence of the bears; scratches and marks that experts believe they used to spread their scent in the dark, as well as cub prints that suggest female bears gave birth in the caves. More than 4,000 bear bones belonging to around 190 individual bears have been discovered.
Carole Fritz, head of the scientific research team, has also said that a sculpture of a bear skull placed on a rock could be evidence of Paleolithic “myths that structure relationships between humans”.
