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<< Our Photo Pages >> Grotte Chauvet - Cave or Rock Shelter in France in Rhone:Ardèche (07)

Submitted by Andy B on Monday, 25 January 2016  Page Views: 20349

Natural PlacesSite Name: Grotte Chauvet Alternative Name: Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave
Country: France Département: Rhone:Ardèche (07) Type: Cave or Rock Shelter
 Nearest Village: Vallon-Pont-d'Arc
Latitude: 44.388122N  Longitude: 4.416141E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
5 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
1 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Grotte Chauvet
Grotte Chauvet submitted by dodomad : Excerpt from the images: (B) General view of the Megaloceros panel. The green dot marks the location of the 14C AMS date [8] (picture credit D. Genty). (C) Detail of the Megaloceros panel chronological succession [8] (pictures credit V. Feruglio-D. Baffier). Source: Plos-One (Vote or comment on this photo)
A cave in the Ardèche department of southern France that contains the earliest known cave paintings, as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life. It is located near the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc on a limestone cliff above the former bed of the Ardèche River.

The cave was first explored on December 18, 1994 by a trio of speleologists: Eliette Brunel Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet, for whom it was named. On top of the paintings and other human evidence they also discovered fossilized remains, prints, and markings from a variety of animals, some of which are now extinct. Further study by French archaeologist Jean Clottes has revealed much about the site, though the dating has been the matter of some dispute.

It is considered one of the most significant prehistoric art sites 'in the world' [as Jeremy Clarkson might say - if he was interested - which he isn't]

Read more at: Wikipedia

A vast replica has recently opened to which you and I, the great unwashed public may visit. This is the official Caverne du Pont d'Arc website where tickets are now available to buy for dates starting 25th April 2015.

Note: Chauvet Cave paintings could depict a 37,000-year-old Volcanic Eruption - see the comment and photo on our page
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Grotte Chauvet
Grotte Chauvet submitted by Thorgrim : Cave lions - see review of Chauvet Cave (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Grotte Chauvet
Grotte Chauvet submitted by Thorgrim : Cover illustration of book on Chauvet cave - see the review (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Grotte Chauvet
Grotte Chauvet submitted by Harald_Platta : Chauvet Cave stamp: Romanian Post; 2400 Leu; multicolored; representing Steppe Wisent - Bison priscus - Chauvet Cave Cave painting Series - Millenium; Design - Oleg Cojocaru and Mihail Gologan. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Grotte Chauvet
Grotte Chauvet submitted by KaiHofmann : The Cirque d´Estre, where the cave is situated. The cave lies on the right part of the image. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Grotte Chauvet
Grotte Chauvet submitted by KaiHofmann : The Cirque d´Estre, where the cave is situated.

Grotte Chauvet
Grotte Chauvet submitted by KaiHofmann : Site in Rhone:Ardèche (07) France The Cirque d´Estre, where the cave is situated.

Grotte Chauvet
Grotte Chauvet submitted by KaiHofmann : The Pont d'Arc over the Ardèche river. The Cirque d'Estre, where the cave is situated could be see in the background.

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 67m W 268° Grotte de la Vacheresse Cave or Rock Shelter
 862m N 357° Grotte du Déroc Cave or Rock Shelter
 900m NNE 13° Grotte de Louoï Cave or Rock Shelter
 1.1km WNW 289° Grotte de Mézelet Cave or Rock Shelter
 1.9km NE 42° Barthe dolmen* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 2.3km NNE 30° Caverne du Pont d'Arc Museum* Museum
 2.7km NW 319° Litchier dolmen* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 2.7km NW 321° Refuge spéléo dolmen Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 3.9km SW 235° Dolmen de Champagnac* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 5.4km SE 137° Dolmen du Chanet 1* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 6.1km SE 129° Dolmen du Refuge Speleologique Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 6.1km SSE 148° Baume d'Oullins Cave or Rock Shelter
 6.2km S 176° Dolmen du Cros di Jho Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 6.5km S 172° Dolmen de la Font de Loup 2* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 6.6km S 171° Dolmen de la Font de Loup 1* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 6.8km SE 131° Dolmen du Chanet 2 Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 6.8km SE 130° Dolmen de la Fôret de Malbosc* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 6.8km E 85° Les Arredons Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 7.0km SSW 193° Dolmen de la Devèze 2 Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 7.0km ESE 122° Dolmen du Litchier Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 7.0km SSW 194° Dolmen de la Devèze 1 Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 7.0km SSW 193° Dolmen de la Devèze 3 Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 7.1km SSW 194° Dolmen de la Devèze 4* Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 7.3km SSW 193° Dolmen de la Devèze 5 Burial Chamber or Dolmen
 7.6km ESE 110° Dolmen de la Barthe Burial Chamber or Dolmen
View more nearby sites and additional images

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"Grotte Chauvet" | Login/Create an Account | 23 News and Comments
  
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Chauvet Cave Paintings could depict a 37,000-year-old Volcanic Eruption by Andy B on Monday, 25 January 2016
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Mysterious paintings in the “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” led researchers to new evidence of ancient volcanic activity

The Chauvet-Pont D'Arc cave is one of the most famous underground caverns in the world, housing one of the oldest and best-preserved collections of prehistoric cave paintings ever discovered. Now, researchers believe that some of the most mysterious, abstract designs found in the cave may be among the earliest paintings of volcanic eruptions.

While most of the drawings in the Chauvet cave depict animals like wooly rhinoceroses, bears, and cave lions, a few drawings deep within the interior have puzzled archaeologists since the cave was discovered in 1994. The red-and-white paintings appear to be shaped like something spraying out of a nozzle, and in some cases were covered up by later drawings, Ewen Callaway writes for Nature. But according to a new study published in the journal PLOS One, researchers believe the images could depict volcanic eruptions nearly 37,000 years ago.

“It is very likely that humans living in the Ardèche river area witnessed one or several eruptions,” the team led by Jean-Michel Geneste, writes in the study. “We propose that the spray-shape signs found in the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave could be the oldest known depiction of a volcanic eruption.”

Previously, the oldest-known recording of a volcanic eruption was a Neolithic mural discovered in the ruins of Çatalhöyük, an ancient city in southwestern Turkey. Researchers believe that painting shows a 7,500 BC eruption by Mount Hasan, an inactive volcano nearby the city. If the Chauvet cave paintings do depict volcanic eruptions, they would be by far the oldest yet discovered,

More at the Smithonian
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chauvet-cave-paintings-could-depict-year-old-volcanic-eruption-180957861/?no-ist, with thanks to Coldrum for the link
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    Re: Chauvet Cave Paintings could depict a 37,000-year-old Volcanic Eruption by davidmorgan on Tuesday, 26 January 2016
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    "Previously, the oldest-known recording of a volcanic eruption was a Neolithic mural discovered in the ruins of Çatalhöyük... Researchers believe that painting shows a 7,500 BC eruption by Mount Hasan"

    Here's a photo of Mount Hasan with a link to the Çatalhöyük fresco.
    Our site page for Çatalhöyük.
    [ Reply to This ]

Vast replica recreates prehistoric Chauvet cave (with video) by Andy B on Friday, 24 April 2015
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In the Ardeche gorge in southern France lies one of the most important prehistoric sites ever discovered. It's locked away behind a thick metal door, hidden halfway up a towering limestone cliff-face.

Few people have ever been allowed inside, but BBC Newsnight was been granted rare access by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
[Apparently the first British film crew - seemingly on the dubious justification of promoting tourist visits to the replica to us British plebs - MegP Ed]

We slide through a metal passageway on our backsides, and then tentatively descend a ladder. It takes a few moments to adjust to the darkness, but our head torches soon reveal that we've entered into a vast cave system of geological beauty.

We weave along the narrow metal walkways; stalactites and stalagmites glimmer in the light, sparkling curtains of calcite hang down from above and the floor is awash with the bones of long-dead animals.

More here, with a very good video report it has to be said, although the 'drone flying in the gorge' thing has been a bit overdone.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32403867
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New battle for the dating of Chauvet cave by bat400 on Tuesday, 29 July 2014
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In 1994, the discovery of the wonders contained within Chauvet cave at Vallon-Pont-d’Arc (France) formed a crucial part of our understanding of Palaeolithic art as a whole. At the time the discovery became a media sensation and then more recently returned to the limelight with the release of Werner Herzog’s film Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

The cave, extends horizontally for nearly 500 metres and is located at the entrance to the Ardèche gorges between the Cevennes and Rhone valleys. Over 425 groups of paintings have been documented and include numerous realistic renditions of animals (reindeer, horses, aurochs, rhinoceros, bison, lions, cave bears among others), human hand prints and abstract dots. The images in the front hall are primarily red, created with liberal applications of red ochre, while the back hall images are mainly black, drawn with charcoal.

The black drawings are grouped into two main phases; a paste of ground charcoal in water for the more recent and a dry charcoal stick for the earlier. However, the early age assigned to some of the black images have been called into question by researchers Jean Combiera and Guy Jouve, who have carried out a comparison with other cave art from the same period along with an examination of the original AMS radiocarbon dates.

Combiera and Jouve argue that the site must be examined in its natural, cultural and thematic framework within a wider region, believing that the images do not represent an isolated moment of artistic genius from the Aurignacian period. By examining and comparing the red and black painted figures, as well as the engraved images, to the later Gravettian and Solutrean period examples, they feel there is a marked stylistic similarity, including the way that both mammoth and horse are portrayed.

They conclude that although Chauvet cave displays some unique characteristics, it appears to belong to a far more evolved phase of parietal art that sits within a Franco-Cantabrian tradition around 26,000–18,000 years ago. This tradition, the researchers argue, is far removed from the earlier motifs of its origins, known from art on stone blocks and shelter walls dated by stratigraphy to the Aurignacian (around 31,000 ± 1,000 BP) in France and Cantabrian region of Spain. The decoration from this period is often more stylistic and markedly geometric, and therefore the Chauvet animals would be too early for the Aurignacian period that they are presently dated to.

However, there is another twist in the tale, and one which could weaken Combiera and Jouve’s assertions. The site of Altxerri B in Spain has been found to contain similar and even older dated artworks stretching back 40,000 years. Archaeological, geological and stylistic evidence, together with radiometric dates, suggest an Aurignacian chronology for this Spanish cave art. The ensemble in Altxerri B can therefore be added to the small but growing number of sites dated to this period, corroborating the hypothesis of more complex and varied figurative art than had been supposed in the early Upper Palaeolithic.

Another piece of evidence that supports the earlier dating of the Chauvet images relies on the depiction of animals that would have been extinct by 29,000 years ago, such as the cave bear and rhinoceros, begging the question of how later groups painted animals that had been missing for thousands of years?

The other objection raised by Combiera and Jouve was to do with the results of the calibrated AMS radiocarbon, which they say may be incorrect. They argue that the origin of the black material used on the drawings was never satisfactorily identified, and this information – if for example it was coal or burnt shell – would have a major effect on the dating. However, it is also possible to counter argue that if this was the case, then the dates could actually be far older than those originally returned.

Jean Clottes and Jean-Michel Geneste are adamant that the original dates were obtained from material which was securel

Read the rest of this post...
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Re: 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams' - Tonight Film 4 re Chauvet Cave by AngieLake on Wednesday, 06 November 2013
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This film is on Film 4 tonight, 6th November - technically the early hours of tomorrow, 7th November, at 12.05am.
Have set recorder to copy as I've heard it is good.
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Re: Cave of Forgotten Dreams Trailer by angieweekender on Tuesday, 16 August 2011
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Saw this in plymouth couple of months back.not in 3D though. Werner Herzog still comes across as an eccentric. But wonderful.
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Re: Cave of Forgotten Dreams Trailer by MikeAitch on Monday, 15 August 2011
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Good news for anyone that wasn't able to see The Cave of Forgotten Dreams movie at the cinema:
The DVD release date is 3rd October and can be pre-ordered at Amazon :-)
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    Available on DVD_Re: Cave of Forgotten Dreams Trailer by bat400 on Friday, 08 February 2013
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    The DVD is also available for rental from Netflix.
    Despite not being able to appreciate the 3D effect, watching the 2D presentation is well worth your time and interest.
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Re: Cave of Forgotten Dreams Trailer by MikeAitch on Monday, 21 March 2011
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List of participating cinemas in the UK - gutted it's not being shown in Cornwall
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Re: Cave of Forgotten Dreams Trailer by Runemage on Tuesday, 08 February 2011
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Aside from the title, Cave of Forgotten dreams - who could resist that?? - the artwork itself is stunning, so representational of the animals it depicts, so unlike the 2D renditions often seen elsewhere. Some of these look much more like sketches done from a live subject than the more 'coloured-in outline' type at other locations. Mind you, some of that may be due to the perfect conditions these have been preserved in.
Can't wait to see the film, in particular the figures drawn further into the cave system where the gases induced altered states.


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Re: Cave of Forgotten Dreams Trailer by MikeAitch on Tuesday, 08 February 2011
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Absolutely jaw dropping, hope it gets a wide release so I can see it down here.
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Re: Cave of Forgotten Dreams Trailer by LINCOOK on Tuesday, 08 February 2011
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Thanks Andy - very excited about this!
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Cave of Forgotten Dreams Trailer by Andy B on Sunday, 06 February 2011
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Lots more on Youtube.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Forgotten_Dreams
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German film director Werner Herzog makes 3D film of Chauvet Cave by Andy B on Sunday, 06 February 2011
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The 30,000-Year-Old Cave That Descends Into Hell There's a cave in France where no humans have been in 26,000 years. The walls are full of fantastic, perfectly-preserved paintings of animals, ending in a chamber full of monsters 1312-feet underground, where CO2 and radon gas concentrations provoke hallucinations.

It's called the the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave, a really weird and mysterious place. The walls contain hundreds of animals—like the typical Paleolithic horses and bisons—but some of them are not supposed to be there, like lions, panthers, rhinos and hyenas.

A few are not even supposed to exist, like weird butterflyish animals or chimerical figures half bison half woman. These may be linked to the hallucinations. The trip is such that some archeologists think that it had a ritual nature, with people transcending into a new state as they descended into the final room.

In fact, the paintings themselves are of such sophistication—some even have three-dimensional relief—that is hard to believe they were made back then. However, radiocarbon dating shows that these paintings are indeed prehistoric: A group was made around 27,000-26,000 years ago and the other at 32,000-30,000 years ago.

The cave first discovered in 1994 by three French speleologists: Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet. And now you can visit it too. Not in person, but in the next best thing: The great German film director Werner Herzog has made a 3D film of it, which is the only 3D film I want to watch this year (actually, amazing documentaries are probably the only movie genre that is perfect for 3D, like this or the Hubble 3D movie).

Source:
http://gizmodo.com/5738795/the-30000+year+old-cave-that-descends-into-hell
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Book Review Chauvet Cave: the Discovery of the World’s Oldest Paintings by Andy B on Friday, 19 February 2010
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Book Review Chauvet Cave: the Discovery of the World’s Oldest Paintings
here
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146412181
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The writing on the cave wall by Andy B on Friday, 19 February 2010
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The first intrepid explorers to brave the 7-metre crawl through a perilously narrow tunnel leading to the Chauvet caves in southern France were rewarded with magnificent artwork to rival any modern composition. Stretching a full 3 metres in height, the paintings depict a troupe of majestic horses in deep colours, above a pair of boisterous rhinos in the midst of a fight. To the left, they found the beautiful rendering of a herd of prehistoric cows. "The horse heads just seem to leap out of the wall towards you," says Jean Clottes, former director of scientific research at the caves and one of the few people to see the paintings with his own eyes.

Read the long article on Chauvet caves in New Scientist
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