Chauvet cave: Preserving prehistoric art - BBC News

The Chauvet cave, in the Ardeche region of southern France, contains some of the oldest and most remarkable cave drawings ever found - yet it's been sealed shut since its discovery to preserve this precious art. Now a vast replica of the cave and its spectacular paintings has been built. Our science correspondent, Rebecca Morelle, can compares the two versions, because she's been given extremely rare access to the original cave.

[thatsnoice_tn]

Just the thought of having the cave open to the public gives me anxiety. Such amazing art and history. Creating the replica was a great idea!

[joebender]

Kudos to the farsighted people who thought of doing this and funding it

[tribalbabymum]

BRILLIANT! a wonderful way for many people to see these priceless antiquities of the peoples of the past.

[gloriag]

back in 8th grade my journalism teach showed us a documentary on this cave & it was just fascinating. On my bucket list to visit it since

[svendbosanvovski]

This is a truly wonderful initiative. I knew from Werner Hertzog's wonderful documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, that the Chauvet cave would be sealed and not available to the general public. The days where you could scamper up Uluru or the pyramids, or play hide and seek in the Colosseum are over. Fortunately we now have the technical means to replicate the experience.

[pacificswell]

Absolutely amazing! Carbon dating disputes has put this between 28, 000-37, 000 years ago, but that also puts Homo-sapiens migrating into the region about the same time. This was an artist most definitely, but who painted it is the million dollar question.

[johnhunter]

Well done~! This way we have the cave and eat it too ...

[garypautard]

What astonishes me is the cave painters used bumps and crevices on the walls to give a 3D effect on their drawings . It's been theorized that early people were of course part of the harsh life and death cycle of their environment and the creatures painted could be seen brothers and sisters to them. Just a thought.

[purpleey]

When ancient cavemen with nothing but rocks can draw better than me 💀

[eusmilusbidentatus]

it's worth seeing the replica and the Aurignac gallery with its paleaofauna such a bison, a giant deer, european lions and a wooly rhino; Paleo-Ardèche during the upper paleolithic age ! But you can visit the Vallon Pont D'arc, the Ardèche canyon, the Ibie valley, Vogüé...

[benstevinson]

Charcoal Was Used by our Neolithic Ancestors in Cave Art

[svaq]

Pani od historii kazała mi obejrzeć, pozdrawiam

[dragonfox.]

one of the earliest myths was that all life came form the Mother Earth, which, of course, It did. I see the ancients as making sure this wouldn't stop by drawing and painting the animals back into the grottoes. I don't think art has ever transcended these amazing images

[danielstark]

Wish someone would measure the acoustics of the various places here- so that a musician could experience the same sound effects while playing… and get the feel of it ( without going in of course. They have recreated other caves outside. 3D scanning - in acoustics

[abacus]

Picasso lived in Mougins - 40 mins.away for many

[volodymyrdubina]

10.03.2021 I have already done the task to watch this video

[Anonymous-qxvd]

I can't paint like the "wild" humans did

[annalisette]

Cave paintings are some of the finest art ever produced!


Where I live in the U.S. we have lots of limestone. Some of the best cement in the world is made 40 miles from my home. For whatever reason we don't seem to have nice caves like those in Europe. Native Americans, at least in my area, did not have caves like that in which to produce artwork.

[PeaceDweller]

It seems as if those engravings depicted the ancient European Cave Lion

[hydrogenperoxide]

I feel like I’m on a Dynamic earth tour..

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