Full Description
Discovered in December 1994 and inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2014, the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave is a masterpiece of prehistoric art. Far more than just a decorated cave, it boasts an exceptional state of preservation, breathtaking underground landscapes, and drawings (depicting lions, cave bears, mammoths, horses, bison, and more) in red, black, and engraved forms of unparalleled magnificence, making it a treasure of humanity. This discovery has revolutionised perspectives on Paleolithic art research. The cave gradually reveals its secrets, with animal and human traces and footprints, and datings that push back the origins of these complex graphic representations and the rituals that accompanied them far into our past.
This book offers a visual tour of the oldest adorned cave on the Eurasian continent, showcasing the earliest images created by humanity 38,000 years ago, by the species that now populates the planet: Homo sapiens.
Contents
7 Foreword
Isabelle Massebeuf
President of the SMERGC
9 Preamble
Carole Fritz
11 Introduction
An Intriguing "Pre-History" of Art
11 An Exceptional Discovery
16 The Research Team
18 The Conservation of Decorated Caves
Geneviève Pinçon and Marie-Blanche Potte
WHAT IS PREHISTORIC ART?
24 Time Frame
26 Climate
27 Neanderthal and Homo sapiens
31 Paleolithic Art
IN THE HEART OF CHAUVET CAVE
47 Humans and Animals
47 The Animal Presence
48 Wolves | Philippe Fosse
52 Bears | Philippe Fosse
61 The Human Presence
61 The Remains of Human Activities
61 Manipulating Bones
65 Manipulating Rocks
67 Fire and Light
71 Other Remains
73 The Dynamics of Human and Animal Presence
74 Establishing a Chronology and Dating the Art
Hélène Valladas
77 A Tour of the Cave
80 The Prehistoric Entrance and its Evolution Over Time
Jean-Jacques Delannoy
84 Near the Prehistoric Entrance, Before the Sill
84 The Brunel Chamber
94 The Chamber of the Bear Hollows and the Cactus Gallery
106 The Red Panels Gallery
112 In the Deep Chambers and Galleries
112 The Hillaire Chamber
132 The Skull Chamber
139 The Megaloceros Gallery
145 The End Chamber
159 The Sacristy Gallery
164 Understanding the Art of Chauvet Cave
166 From Floors to Ceilings. 3D Contributions to Research
Thomas Sagory
170 The Bestiary of Chauvet Cave
177 From the Materials to the Artistic Gesture
177 White Drawings
179 Red Drawings
183 Black Drawings
188 From Artistic Gesture to Interpretation
192 The Panel of the Lions: a History/Story, a Myth
Conclusion
194 Chauvet Cave, Humanity's First Art
196 A Chronological Approach to Art that Must Change
198 A Different Vision of Our Relationships
with the Animal World
200 Chauvet 2: Between Research and Public Engagement
Gilles Tosello and Valérie Moles
Annexes
206 Bibliography
