39 Chauvet Cave Facts: History, Art, Significance, And More

Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, or the Chauvet Cave, is located near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc of southern France's Ardèche Département.

After Palaeolithic art was found on the walls of the cave, Chauvet Cave became famous in 1994. Remains of many different animals were found in the cave, where most animals are now extinct.

Apart from animal remains and cave art, some footprints of both animals and humans were found in the Chauvet Cave. The Chauvet Cave is one of the most important prehistoric art sites, similar to Altamira, Lascaux, and Cosquer.

In the gorges of the Ardèche region, there are a lot of caves.

Among all the caves, most have archaeological and geological importance. The Chauvet Cave is exceptionally large, and the artwork found in the cave is well preserved and distinct.

The caves have been found to be occupied by human beings at two different times- the Aurignacian and the Gravettian. The cave paintings actually date back to the earlier Aurignacian era which was between 30,000-32,000 years ago.

The only Gravettian era trace found in the Chauvet Cave are a child's footprints, carbon smoke stains made from the torches that lit the caves, and the charred remains of ancient hearths.

Studies have found that no one has lived in the cave after the child until the Chauvet Cave was discovered in 1994. The footprints found in the cave can be traced back to around 20,000-30,000 years ago and are some of the oldest human footprints in history.

The cave floor is of a soft material, similar to that of clay. Due to this, you can easily find prints of cave bears on the floor of the cave.

Large, rounded depressions can also be found, which were later thought to be the nests that the bears used to sleep. Apart from the prints and nests, you can also find many fossilized bones which include the skulls of bears, as well as the horned skull of an ibex.

Apart from the skeletons, you will also find numerous animal paintings in the Chauvet Cave. There are at least 13 species of animal paintings seen on the cave wall.

Some of these animals have even never been seen in any other ice age paintings. You will also find paintings of cattle, horses, reindeer, lions, panthers, owls, bears, hyenas, and rhinos.

There is no typical painting of a complete human figure, but you may find a partial 'Venus' figure that looks like the legs of a woman. There is a painting of a particular figure with the upper body of a bison and the lower body of a woman.

Read on to unearth more details about the Chauvet Cave.

Chauvet Cave Facts

Here, you'll find some cool Chauvet Cave facts, one of the most popular caves in the entire world.

• The Chauvet Cave is one of the most popular prehistoric rock art sites in the entire world.
• Apart from one, all of the other cave art paintings found in the cave date back to 30,000-33,000 years ago.
• There are a lot of engravings and paintings in the cave.
• In fact, you will find around 300 of them all around the decorated cave.
• Apart from the paintings, you will find cave bear bones and cave bear skulls in the cave. The bear skull was found on a stone altar in the Skull Chamber.
• The positioning of bones and skull might indicate some form of ritual slaughter.
• More than 190 skulls of bears have been found in the cave.
• The cave has different parts that are far from the entrance.
• This includes the Hillaire Chamber, Red Panels Gallery, Skull Chamber, the Megaloceros Gallery, and the End Chamber.
• There are deep holes on the cave's floor that indicate that cave bears lived inside the Chauvet Cave, those holes on the floor were their nests.
• The cave has some of the older known cave paintings found through radiocarbon dating from torch marks, arts, and the floors, with the latest dating back to 32,900 BP.
• The animal paintings in the deeper parts of the cave are generally black with very less rock engravings and red figures.
• Some researchers place the cave art in the cave to be from the Aurignacian era, which was around 32,000 years ago.
• A few miles from the actual cave lies the biggest cave replica to ever be constructed in the whole world.
• It is 10 times bigger than the Lascaux facsimile. Full-size replicas are found here.
• Visitors can enjoy this virtual tour of the cave through the 3D exhibits, and everything offered in the replica.
• The actual cave has been sealed off to the public since 1994. Only a handful of people, like archaeologists and speleologists, are permitted to enter per year.

Chauvet Cave Paintings

There are many cave paintings of animals, and even some thought to be of humans, in the cave. Here are some facts about the Chauvet Cave paintings found in France:

• All of these cave paintings were grouped in significant ways.
• The most accessible areas of the cave have red paintings, while some are black or engraved.
• Groupings include the Horse Panel and the Panel of Rhinoceros and Lions.
• The sophistication of the paintings is what makes the Chauvet Cave and the cave paintings such a sought-after venue in the world.
• The significant art in the Chauvet Cave is the perfect example of Franco-Cantabrian cave art history.
• The most familiar art in the cave is of lions, rhinos, and mammoths.
• These art pieces account for around 60% of the art found on the cave's surface.
• Rarely hunted animals, such as the ones mentioned above, are pictured by cave painters mostly, with some commonly hunted animals like horses and cattle also portrayed.
• You will see paintings of a spotted leopard, a panther, and an owl, among others. You will even see horses, reindeer, bison, aurochs, ibex, red deer, and muskoxen.
• The cave also includes a lot of abstract art in the shape of geometrical symbols, some red-ochre prehistoric hand stencils and handprints, and many indecipherable marks.
• Salle du Fond is the deepest and last part of the Chauvet Cave, and it has Palaeolithic cave paintings of 'The Venus And The Sorcerer'. This was made in black charcoal.

Significance Of The Chauvet Cave

The Chauvet Cave is of great significance due to the excellent cave paintings inside, and the fact that it dates back thousands of years. Here are some intriguing facts about the significance of the Chauvet Cave:

• UNESCO gave World Heritage status to the Chauvet Cave in 2014.
• The year 1999 saw John Robinson being invited into the cave by Dr. Jean Clottes to look into the paintings dating back thousands of centuries.
• The Skull Chamber had some bones and a bear cranial skull kept in such a way that it indicates ritual slaughter, there is even evidence of fires being lit. This indicates that the people living in the cave were doing some form of ritual function.
• This discovery was made in 1994 and the cave remains one of the most significant prehistoric sites to date.
• Three local cavers - Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet found the actual cave. The cave was later named after the latter.
• The cave became so popular that in 2015, a full-sized recreation of the cave was made between Vallon-Pont-d’Arc and St. Remeze to showcase the amazing discovery.
• There is also a recent documentary called 'The Cave Of Forgotten Dreams' by Werner Herzog that takes the viewers on a 3D journey of the Chauvet Cave in southern France.
• The French Ministry of Culture takes all necessary steps to keep the cave in excellent condition for its visitors.

The Chauvet Cave's History

Here are some interesting facts on the history behind the Chauvet Cave in France:

• The cave was discovered by three cavers and named after Jean-Marie Chauvet.
• The researchers then arrived and found that the cave had been untouched for 20,000-30,000 years.
• The official name of the cave is Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave.
• It is said that ancient humans visited the cave in two separate periods: the Aurignacian period and the Gravettian period.
• The paintings and engravings on the walls of the cave show high artistic quality. This made people think that the age of the paintings was similar to the much younger Lascaux cave.
• The quality has made researchers reconsider the capabilities of the people that lived thousands of years before us.
• By visiting this cave, you can see for yourself the brilliance of the ancient cave artists.