Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Chauvet Cave
The Chauvet Cave or Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave is a cave located near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the Ardèche département, in southern France.
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Features
The cave contains the oldest known cave paintings, supposedly dated at about 32,000 years old. However, there is controversy over that dating, and some people think that the age of the paintings has been exaggerated for publicity purposes.
Many cave paintings have been discovered at the cave. So far, more than 260 animal paintings have been recorded; the total will certainly be over 300. The animal paintings are of 13 different species, including animals such as owls, hyenas and panthers which have never - or very rarely - been found in previous ice age paintings. It is said that these painters must have used stamps or oral spray painting skills to create these paintings.
History
The cave was named after Jean-Marie Chauvet, who discovered it on December 18,1994, together with Christian Hillaire and Eliette Brunel-Deschamps.
The researchers found that the cave had been untouched for 20-30 years.
See also
External links
- http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/fr/
- http://www.france.diplomatie.fr/label_france/ENGLISH/SCIENCES/CHAUVET/cha.html
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