The Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave. Art and Archaeology. The First Rooms.
National Monuments Center. Heritage Editions| N° d'inventaire | 31600 |
| Format | 33 x 26 |
| Détails | 464 p., publisher's hardcover |
| Publication | Paris, 2025 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782757709962 |
On December 18, 1994, three speleologists (Jean-Marie Chauvet, Éliette Brunel, and Christian Hilaire) discovered the entrance—blocked for 21,000 years—to a gigantic decorated cave in Vallon Pont d'Arc, in the Ardèche department. The oldest paintings and engravings date back more than 36,000 years. Due to the natural closure of this cavity, all the parietal works and archaeological remains found there have been maintained in an exceptional state of preservation.
This site, immediately protected and secured, and for this reason never to be open to the general public, is now dedicated to research. Since 1998, a multidisciplinary and international team has been studying the cave using all the diverse scientific approaches. The conclusions of this work are presented here for the first time.
The reader therefore has the privilege of discovering, with the team of researchers now led by Carole Fritz, the First Rooms of the cave. The collapse of the Entrance Porch had put an end to the penetration of the cavity by animals and men and plunged into darkness areas previously bathed in daylight. The scientific team, thanks to new techniques and methods – dating, modeling, etc. – restores the cartography of this light and the living context in which the organization of the parietal works was conceived.
These first keys to understanding are offered on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the cave and the 10th anniversary of its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
On December 18, 1994, three speleologists (Jean-Marie Chauvet, Éliette Brunel, and Christian Hilaire) discovered the entrance—blocked for 21,000 years—to a gigantic decorated cave in Vallon Pont d'Arc, in the Ardèche department. The oldest paintings and engravings date back more than 36,000 years. Due to the natural closure of this cavity, all the parietal works and archaeological remains found there have been maintained in an exceptional state of preservation.
This site, immediately protected and secured, and for this reason never to be open to the general public, is now dedicated to research. Since 1998, a multidisciplinary and international team has been studying the cave using all the diverse scientific approaches. The conclusions of this work are presented here for the first time.
The reader therefore has the privilege of discovering, with the team of researchers now led by Carole Fritz, the First Rooms of the cave. The collapse of the Entrance Porch had put an end to the penetration of the cavity by animals and men and plunged into darkness areas previously bathed in daylight. The scientific team, thanks to new techniques and methods – dating, modeling, etc. – restores the cartography of this light and the living context in which the organization of the parietal works was conceived.
These first keys to understanding are offered on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the cave and the 10th anniversary of its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List.