Grotte Chauvet


Useful Information

Image: a painting of a cave bear (Ursus spelaeus).
Location: At Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in the Ardèche region. A7, exit Montélimar or Bollène, up the Ardeche valley to Vallon-Pont d'Arc. 45km from Montélimar.
Classification:  Karst cave.
Dimension: L=490m.
Bibliography: Eliette Brunel Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps (1996): Dawn of Art: The Chauvet Cave, The Oldest Known Paintings in the World. Harry N Abrams, 1996, Hardcover, 135pp, ISBN: 0810932326.  amazon.com
Jean Clottes (2003): Chauvet Cave: The Art of Earliest Times, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City; 2003. 225 pages, hardbound. ISBN 0-87480-758-1. Translated by Paul Bahn from the French La Grotte Chauvet, l'art de origins, Seuil, Paris, 2001.  amazon.com
Address: -
Last update:$Date: 2010/05/19 23:22:51 $

History

 
18-DEC-1994discovered by Mr. Jean-Marie Chauvet, Mrs. Eliette Brunel-Deschamps and Mr. Christian Hillaire.
29-DEC-1994verification visit, conducted by Jean Clottes, an expert on Paleolithic art.
17-JAN-1995the Minister of Culture and Francophony, Jacques Toubon, announced the exceptional archaeological discovery of a decorated cave.
19-JUL-2000start of the project to build a reproduction of the cave at La Mathe, parking de l'Ibie. Mr. Jean-Marie Chauvet, Mrs. Eliette Brunel-Deschamps and Mr. Christian Hillaire recveived the honour Chevaliers des Arts.

Description

Image: a mammoth, engraved into the white limestone which is covered by brow cave clay.
Image: a diorama in the exposition shows the artist at work.

Grotte Chauvet is a beautiful painted cave in the Ardèche region. It has several very large galleries with more than 300 paintings and engravings dating to the Paleolithic era (between 32,000 and 30,000 years ago). The paintings show rhinoceroses, felines, bears, owls and mammoths.

Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel-Deschamps and Christian Hillaire are speleologists, who have been doing speleological surveys in the area for numerous years.

The cave is closed to the public. But a book published by the three discoverers shows the most exciting paintings. It was translated into many languages and is simply called Grotte Chauvet. And there is also a very interesting WebSite by Jean Clottes in French and English. See below for more information.

It some years a reproduction may allow visitors to see the cave, although the original cave will never be open to the public.


Grotte Chauvet Gallery

See also


Main Index | France | Rhône-Alpes | Ardèche
Last updated Terms of Use, © Jochen Duckeck.