The Cave Paintings of the Caverne du Pont d'Arc

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I’d heard of the Lascaux caves and the ancient drawings which decorate their walls. Mention of them appears in every book that deals with the evolution of horses. I hadn’t however heard of the Chauvet Pont d-Arc cave in the Ardèche department of southern France. The cavern is the world’s largest replica of an otherwise inaccessible cave art site. The replica covers some 3000 square metres of floor area for a total of 8180 square metres of scenic décor (floors, walls, ceiling). The original Chauvet Pont d’Arc has a floor area of 8500 square metres. All visible elements have been reproduced to scale. The cavern took 30 months to build. The cavern is made of metal and concrete with a mortar covering. A large proportion of the reproduced geological or organic elements (calcareous concretions, panels, bones) are made of resin. Discovered in 1994 by speleologist Jean-Marie Charvet and two friends, the site was granted World Heritage status by UNESCO in 2004. Radiocarbon dating of artwork and artefacts dates back to 30,000 to 32,000 years ago. It seems that a landslide covered the entrance to the cave until its discovery in 1994. Paw prints of cave bears have been found and numerous fossilised skulls and bones. One set of footprints show a young child and a dog or wolf walking side by side. Some 13 different animal species are depicted including many predatory animals. Red ochre palm and hand prints can also be seen. The contours of the walls have been utilised to enhance the position of the drawings. Some of the animals have more than the normal four legs but this was explained to us as perhaps how the artist was trying to depict movement. Following the discovery of such an important find, access to the public was immediately sealed off. The facsimile Caverne du Pont-d’Arc was opened to the public in 2015. The art is reproduced full-size in a condensed replica of the original. The Lascaux cave has suffered from the thousands of visitors who have been allowed to view the paintings. Great care is being taken with this relatively new find. We were very impressed with the cavern. Although no photos were allowed, downloading from the official website is free. We also toured an interpretative area which had models of some of the animals which might have been around at the time. Here is a link to the official website: http://en.cavernedupontdarc.fr/