Chauvet Cave

The cave paintings and rock art of Chauvet

The Chauvet Cave is located near the Vallon-Pont-d'Arc in the Ardèche region of southern France. The Cave Paintings of Chauvet date to 30,000 to 32,000 years ago. In the Chauvet Cave hundreds of animal paintings have been found making Chauvet Cave one of the world's most important rock art sites.

Chauvet Cave Through the Mind of a Sculptor

Looking at the Altar

To gaze down into the eye sockets of the Bear skull, that sits on the top of the Chauvet alter, is one of life's highly charged emotional acts. It is comparable to listening to the National Anthem on Remembrance Day, or watching the birth of a child. I once visited the King's Chamber of the giant Pyramid with a friend and was so emotionally charged that my whole body started to vibrate. Standing before the Chauvet altar gave me the same feeling. I sensed the presence of the people responsible for the act of placing the skull on this sacred altar.

The charcoal I could see through the eye sockets lying on the surface of the rock were the remains of a fire that was lit before the beginning of the last Ice Age 30,000 years ago. Because of the strict policy that nothing can be touched in the cave means that the skull has not been moved for at least 25,000 years.

By that time the advancing ice from the north had closed the cave, and the Bear Clan had long retreated to the French Mediterranean coast, Spain or Italy. For all we know there might be something hidden in the dark secret interior of the skull, possibly a tiny sculpture of fertility Goddess or a sacrificial flint blade. I hope that if there is something there it will never be seen. An aura surrounds the Bear skull because it is a Holy relic, similar to a Saint's bone encased in a Christian altar. There is no way that one can bring oneself to touch such an object even if it was allowed, as it would not only be a desecration of a sacred relic, but in some way break the magic power it possesses. Chauvet's Salle du Crane is a like Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock.

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