Chauvet Cave

Palaeolithic · France

Field notes

civilizations

Palaeolithic

types

Cave painting

occupied

35,000 BCE — 26,000 BCE

country

France

The site

Chauvet Cave, on a limestone cliff above the old bed of the Ardèche in southeastern France, holds some of the best-preserved figurative paintings left by Upper Palaeolithic people, worked in charcoal deep in the dark. Sealed and unknown until three cavers found it in December 1994, its walls carry an astonishing gallery of animals, including the famous Panel of the Lions. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, it ranks among the most important prehistoric art caves on Earth.

Nearby sites

~42 km

Roman Theatre of Orange

~50 km

Pont du Gard

~62 km

Amphitheater of Nîmes

~76 km

Glanum