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The Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave (French: Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc, French pronunciation: [ɡʁɔt ʃovɛ pɔ̃ daʁk]) in the Ardèche department of southeastern France is a cave that contains some of the best-preserved figurative cave paintings in the world, [1] as well as other evidence of Upper Paleolithic life. [2]
Cueva de las Manos, Perito Moreno, Argentina.The art in the cave is dated between 7,300 BC and 700 AD; [a] stenciled, mostly left hands are shown. [3] [4]In archaeology, cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves.
The most famous section of the cave is The Hall of the Bulls where bulls, equines, aurochs, stags, and the only bear in the cave are depicted. The four black bulls, or aurochs, are the dominant figures among the 36 animals represented here. One of the bulls is 5.2 metres (17 ft 1 in) long, the largest animal discovered so far in cave art.
The site is composed of the cave itself, which is about 20 m (66 ft) deep, two outcroppings, and the walls at either side of the entrance. [47] The entrance faces northeast and is about 15 m (50 ft) in height by 15 m (50 ft) wide. [47] The paintings on the cave's wall span about 60 m × 200 m (200 ft × 650 ft). [47]
Very few visitors were allowed in per day, resulting in a three-year waiting list. After green mould began to appear on some paintings in 2002, the caves were closed to public access. [10] A replica cave and museum were built nearby and completed in 2001 by Manuel Franquelo and Sven Nebel, reproducing the cave and its art. The replica allows a ...
The cave paintings allowed storing information about regional solar calendar, customs, religious festivals, and rituals of the society the earliest such representation yet discovered in Europe." [5] Contemporary imitations of possible fertility rites are reported — inscriptions in Latin and paintings made by treasure-hunters. The medium used ...
The caves have yielded evidence of occupation (bones, lithics (stone tools) and portable art) from the Mousterian to the Middle Ages, but it is most famous for its paintings and engravings of the Upper Paleolithic. The paintings have numerous negative hand stencils made by the stencil technique.
In April 2003, engravings and bas-reliefs were found on the walls and ceilings of some of the caves, an important find as it had previously been thought that no British cave art existed. The discoveries, made by Paul Bahn, Sergio Rippoll and Paul Pettitt, included an animal originally identified as an ibex but later confirmed as a stag.