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Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps, Christian Hillaire.
Chauvet Cave: the discovery of the world's oldest paintings.
Thames and Hudson. 1996

On 18 December 1994, three cavers were inspecting cave sites in the Ardèche, southeast France, when they came across by chance the hidden entrance to an underground cavern. Digging away the rubble, they made their way through a narrow passageway into a vast cave. Inside, as their eyes became accustomed to the dim light, they picked out traces of colour on the cave walls: shapes of animals loomed – a mammoth, a huge bear, rhinoceroses, lions. Making their way deeper into the darkness, they noticed the blackened remains of fires, pieces of flint and, littered on the floor, hundreds of animal bones.

They had just made one of the most thrilling discoveries of modern times. Here, in this hidden network of caverns and passageways, was a staggering collection of some three hundred wall paintings dating back 30,000 years. The paintings are the oldest examples of prehistoric art ever found – some 15,000 years older than the renowned paintings at Lascaux. The cave had remained undisturbed for so long that the very footprints on the sandy floor were those of Stone Age man.

This book recounts the story of this extraordinary discovery, putting into words the emotions of Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian Hillaire as the significance of their find became clear and allowing us to share their sense of wonder and excitement. The remarkable photographs of the paintings show each wall in clear detail, revealing the incredible mastery of the prehistoric artists. The images are particularly impressive in terms of the techniques used to present perspective and motion. Many figures interact with each other; some are staggered to give perspective; others are drawn on bulges in the cave walls, to further suggest depth. The prehistoric art specialists Paul G. Bahn and Jean Clottes provide a fascinating analysis of the paintings, setting them in their historical context.