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Drawings of horses from Chauvet Cave
Drawings of horses from Chauvet Cave

The Chauvet Cave[1] or Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave is located at N 44° 21' and E 4° 29' 24", near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the Ardèche département, in southern France. Vallon-Pont-d'Arc is a commune in the Ardèche department in southeastern France. Ardèche ( Occitan and Arpitan: Ardecha) is a department in south-central France named after the Ardèche River. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. It became famous in 1994 after a trio of speleologists found that its walls were richly decorated with Paleolithic artwork, that it contained the fossilized remains of many animals, including those that are now extinct, and that the floor preserved the footprints of animals and humans. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) Speleology is the scientific study of Caves and other Karst features their make-up structure physical properties history life forms and the processes by The term Paleolithic (or Palaeolithic) (from Greek παλαιός palaios, " Old " and λίθος Lithos, "stone" FOSSIL is a standard protocol for allowing serial communication for Telecommunications programs under the DOS Operating system. In Biology and Ecology, extinction is the cessation of existence of a Species or group of taxa. The Chauvet Cave was soon regarded as one of the most significant pre-historic art sites, along with Lascaux, Altamira, and Cosquer. Lascaux is the setting of a complex of Caves in southwestern France famous for its prehistoric Cave paintings The original caves are located near The Cosquer cave is located in the Calanque de Morgiou near Marseille, France, not very far from Cap Morgiou

Contents

Features

The gorges of the Ardèche region are home to numerous caves, many of them having some geological or archaeological importance. Geology (from Greek γη gê, "earth" and λόγος Logos, "speech" lit Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos The Chauvet Cave, however, is uncharacteristically large and the quality, quantity, and condition of the artwork found on its walls has been called spectacular. It appears to have been occupied by humans during two distinct periods: the Aurignacian and the Gravettian. Aurignacian is the name of a culture of the Upper Palaeolithic located in Europe and southwest Asia. The Gravettian was an industry of the European Upper Palaeolithic. Most of the artwork dates to the earlier, Aurignacian, era (30,000 to 32,000 years ago). The later Gravettian occupation, which occurred 25,000 to 27,000 years ago, left little but a child's footprint, the charred remains of ancient hearths and carbon smoke stains from torches that lit the caves.

The soft, clay like floor of the cave retains the paw prints of cave bears along with large, rounded, depressions that are believed to be the "nests" where the bears slept. The Cave Bear ( Ursus spelaeus) was a Species of Bear which lived in Europe during the Pleistocene and became extinct at Fossilized bones are abundant and include the skulls of cave bears and the horned skull of an ibex. An ibex, commonly called by its French name bouquetin also called Steinbock in German an individual of any of several species of wild mountain goats (genus

Hundreds of animal paintings have been catalogued, depicting at least 13 different species, including those which have rarely or never been found in other ice age paintings. In Biology, a species is one of the basic units of Biological classification and a Taxonomic rank. An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets Rather than depicting only the familiar animals of the hunt that predominate in Paleolithic cave art, i. e. horses, cattle, reindeer, etc. , the walls of the Chauvet Cave are covered with predatory animals: lions, panthers, bears, owls, rhinos and hyenas. Typical of most cave art, there are no paintings of complete human figures, although there is one possible partial "Venus" figure that may represent the legs and genitals of a woman. Also a chimerical figure may be present; it appears to have the lower body of a woman with the upper body of a bison. In Greek mythology, the Chimera ( Greek (Chímaira Latin Chimaera) was a monstrous creature of Lycia in Asia Minor There are a few panels of red ochre hand prints and hand stencils made by spitting pigment over hands pressed against the cave surface. Red ochre and yellow ochre (pronounced /'əʊkə/ from the Greek ὄχρος yellow are Pigments made from naturally tinted Clay. A stencil is a Template used to draw or paint identical letters, Symbols, Shapes or Patterns every For the drug referred to as "pigment" see Black tar heroin. Abstract markings—lines and dots—are found throughout the cave. Abstract art uses a Visual language of form color and line to create a composition which exists independently of visual references to the world There are also two unidentifiable images that have a vaguely butterfly shape to them. This combination of subjects has led experts in pre-historic art and cultures to believe that there was likely a ritual, shamanic, or magical aspect to these paintings. A ritual is a set of actions often thought to have Symbolic value the performance of which is usually prescribed by a Religion or by the Traditions Magick, in the broadest sense is any act designed to cause intentional change

The artists who produced these unique paintings used techniques not often observed in other cave art. Many of the paintings appear to have been made only after the walls were scraped clear of debris and concretions. This left a smoother and noticeably lighter area upon which the artists worked. Similarly, a three dimensional quality is achieved by incising or etching about the outlines of certain figures. For other uses of etch or etching, see Etching (disambiguation, for the history of the method see Old master prints. This visually emphasizes some of the animals and allows torch light to cast shadows about the edges.

Dating

The cave contains the oldest known cave paintings, based on radiocarbon dating of "black from drawings, from torch marks and from the floors. Cave paintings are Paintings on Cave walls and ceilings and the term is used especially for those dating to Prehistoric times Radiocarbon dating is a Radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring Radioisotope Carbon-14 (14C to determine the age of " Clottes concludes that the "dates fall into two groups, one centred around 27,000-26,000 BP and the other around 32,000-30,000 BP. "[2] As of 1999, the dates of 31 samples from the cave had been reported, with the earliest being 32,900±490 BP. [3]

However, some archaeologists have questioned these dates. Züchner, based on his archaeological dating, is of the opinion that the red paintings are from the Gravettian period (c. The Gravettian was an industry of the European Upper Palaeolithic. 28,000–23,000 BP) and the black paintings are from the Early Magdalenian period (early part of c. The Magdalenian, also spelled Magdalénien refers to one of the later cultures of the Upper Palaeolithic in Western Europe. 18,000–10,000 BP). [4] Pettitt and Bahn believe the dating is inconsistent with the traditional stylistic sequence and that there is uncertainty about the source of the charcoal used in the drawings and the extent of surface contamination on the exposed rock surfaces. [5]. New stylistic studies show that some gravettian engravings are superimposed on black paintings proving the paintings older origins (see E. Guy).

History

The cave was named after Jean-Marie Chauvet, who discovered it on December 18, 1994, together with Christian Hillaire and Eliette Brunel-Deschamps. Events 218 BC - Second Punic War: Battle of the Trebia - Hannibal 's Carthaginian forces defeat those of the Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar)

The researchers found that the cave had been untouched for 20,000-30,000 years.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ French: La Grotte Chauvet
  2. ^ Quotes from Clottes (2003b), p. Painting (pān'tīng in Art, is the practice of applying Color to a Surface (support base such as e Cave paintings are Paintings on Cave walls and ceilings and the term is used especially for those dating to Prehistoric times 214.
  3. ^ Clottes (2003b), p. 33. The oldest is sample Gifa 99776 from "zone 10". See also Chauvet (1996), p. 131, for a chronology of dates from various caves. Bahn's foreword and Clottes' epilogue to Chauvet (1996) discuss dating.
  4. ^ Züchner, Christian (September 1998). Grotte Chauvet Archaeologically Dated. Communication at the International Rock Art Congress IRAC ´98. Retrieved on 2007-12-23. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 962 - Byzantine-Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city
    Clottes (2003b), pp. 213-214, has a response by Clottes.
  5. ^ Pettitt, Paul; Paul Bahn (March 2003). "Current problems in dating Palaeolithic cave art: Candamo and Chauvet". Antiquity 77 (295): 134–141.  

References

English translation by Paul G. Bahn from the French edition La Grotte Chauvet
Translation of La Grotte Chauvet, l'art des origins, Éditions du Seuil, 2001

External links

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