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 Eyes of a Sculptor

Visit to the Chauvet Cave in 1999 by John Robinson

At the head of the canyon, just before reaching Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, the road descends to the river. Rounding a bend we were suddenly confronted with a glorious freak of nature, the Pont d'Arc. The river has cut straight through a rock barrier; thus creating an enormous and majestic Arch that spans the flow. A canoe was being paddled under the arch the moment we arrived, giving the scene a remarkable perspective. The Arch of Pont d'Arc is a wonder to behold. What would it have meant to the Chauvet People 30,000 years ago? Would it have represented an animal as Jean suspects?

Possibly, as in the caves the artists had often used the natural form of the rock surface to depict the animals they painted. I looked at the Arch and immediately saw a Lion. We found a quiet little hotel in old Vallon, and I rang Jean. He had established his HQ in a Municipal Holiday Camp, his team had set up their laboratories for the study of the cave. Jean asked me to meet him at 0830 in a car park near the Arch.

Chauvet is the archaeologist's dream come true as the whole cave is in a pristine condition, untouched by man for possibly 27,000 years, as the only visitors since the paintings were done have been the Bears, who used the cave for their winter hibernation.

Every possible precaution is being taken to disturb nothing. As soon as the entrance had been widened, aluminium catwalks were brought in and erected on six inch high legs to protect the floor of the cave. A network of scientific apparatus constantly monitors the temperature, and humidity of the cave.

I awoke to a dull wet day. It had rained all through the night, so now the Canyon was full of swirling mist. I arrived at what I thought must be the right car park to find it empty, so drove on down the road to see the Arch in this totally different light. It was shrouded in vapour and very menacing. Not finding another car park I returned and saw Jean and David Lewis-Williams waiting for me, plus a film crew, who proceeded to record our happy meeting!. The car park is beside a beautiful vineyard, which in turn ends in the sheer cliff of the canyon.

	The vine leaves had started to turn golden and sparkled with drops of water. Across the face of the cliff ran a river scoured cutting, and it was up this that we were going to pass to the entrance of the cave, which was situated towards the top of the canyon.

I Loaded up with equipment, the seven members of the team that were going to work in the cave that day, set off through the vineyard, to the track that led up to the cutting. The rain had stopped but the leaves of the scrub oaks were saturated with water, so that every time you pulled on a branch to heave yourself up the steep incline, down would come a shower of droplets. Slowly we climbed up the goat path and arrived at the cutting.

The water worn cutting is some 200 yards long and runs across the face of the cliff at about 15 degrees incline. Way below lay the vineyard, then the river, and then the opposite cliff. It was a breathtaking view, with the sun just beginning to struggle through on this misty morning. I wondered about all the people who had taken this path 30,000 years ago, as surely this must have been the way up to the cave then, as it is now.

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