In 1995 three speleologists (cave crawlers), Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hilaire and Jean-Marie Chauvet, came upon previously undiscovered caves with fabulously intact cave drawings. They immediately knew that this was a special find, but it wasn't until extensive carbon dating was done by various impartial world experts, that they knew that this was the oldest preserved art in the world, dating back up to 36000 years. There are no typos in that last number. This art was from the Aurignacian period and was created by people looking, surprisingly, not unlike us. Concerned for the preservation of this find, the French government immediately took over the site and limited its access to scientists. They sealed up the original with a airtight lock and heavy duty security.
Those who discovered the cave knew it must be somehow shared with the world and so, six years ago they devised a project to create a facsimile of the original cave for the public to visit. The original cave is situated above the previous course of the Ardeche River, before the Pont d'Arc which all tourists Ooo and Ahh over, opened up . The top of the Pont D'Arc is visible from the new facsimile site.
After two and a half years of construction, the cave lookalike opened, just this spring. Having already visited the amazing Aven d'Ornac caves, which were real caves, we were anxious to see what the French had created. So, this morning we set off for Vallon Pont D'Arc in the Ardeche. Rather than take the extremely convoluted road along the Ardeche Gorge, Emily opted for a relatively straight path north of that route that took us right into the site.
We arrived in plenty of time to first visit the museum with it's Disneyesque setup. Here we discovered a post ice age era of people and animals who lived in a harsh climate, temperatures never going above 15˚C and generally averaging between -20 and -30˚. And somehow, given their harsh battle to survive, these people created some truly astounding art work.
They didn't live in the Chauvet cave, but treated it as a sacred place, sharing it with the cave bears who hibernated and slept there. There are no human traces here other than a few footsteps. Only the remains of bears, horses, deer and other fauna of the era litter the floor. All cave drawings are done in either ochre or charcoal and vary from basic palm prints to amazing bas relief sketches.
We weren't allowed to take photos inside the site, so my drawing pics are those of posters. It is astounding what they were able to construct in two and a half years.
I think we were all pretty much in awe of the art work, realizing that deeper in the cave, only torch light allowed them to create their works of art and this is where the really detailed paintings were found.
We headed back towards Cairanne via the Ardeche Gorge, where we found a good stop to have a tailgate lunch.
This drive never ceases to amaze and also terrorize with its severe switch backs and lack of guard rails.
Our route home took us by the new home that Lilian Cebe, our market tablecloth merchant, was renovating. He gave us a warm welcome and a nice tour. His home is located just outside Travaillan, with superb views of the Dentells de Montmirail across the Plan de Dieu vineyards. We promised to come back when his project was complete.
We got back to Chez Pigeon in time for some late day sun on the terrace. La vie est belle!!!
In 1995 three speleologists (cave crawlers), Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hilaire and Jean-Marie Chauvet, came upon previously undiscovered caves with fabulously intact cave drawings. They immediately knew that this was a special find, but it wasn't until extensive carbon dating was done by various impartial world experts, that they knew that this was the oldest preserved art in the world, dating back up to 36000 years. There are no typos in that last number. This art was from the Aurignacian period and was created by people looking, surprisingly, not unlike us. Concerned for the preservation of this find, the French government immediately took over the site and limited its access to scientists. They sealed up the original with a airtight lock and heavy duty security.
Those who discovered the cave knew it must be somehow shared with the world and so, six years ago they devised a project to create a facsimile of the original cave for the public to visit. The original cave is situated above the previous course of the Ardeche River, before the Pont d'Arc which all tourists Ooo and Ahh over, opened up . The top of the Pont D'Arc is visible from the new facsimile site.
After two and a half years of construction, the cave lookalike opened, just this spring. Having already visited the amazing Aven d'Ornac caves, which were real caves, we were anxious to see what the French had created. So, this morning we set off for Vallon Pont D'Arc in the Ardeche. Rather than take the extremely convoluted road along the Ardeche Gorge, Emily opted for a relatively straight path north of that route that took us right into the site.
We arrived in plenty of time to first visit the museum with it's Disneyesque setup. Here we discovered a post ice age era of people and animals who lived in a harsh climate, temperatures never going above 15˚C and generally averaging between -20 and -30˚. And somehow, given their harsh battle to survive, these people created some truly astounding art work.
They didn't live in the Chauvet cave, but treated it as a sacred place, sharing it with the cave bears who hibernated and slept there. There are no human traces here other than a few footsteps. Only the remains of bears, horses, deer and other fauna of the era litter the floor. All cave drawings are done in either ochre or charcoal and vary from basic palm prints to amazing bas relief sketches.
We weren't allowed to take photos inside the site, so my drawing pics are those of posters. It is astounding what they were able to construct in two and a half years.
I think we were all pretty much in awe of the art work, realizing that deeper in the cave, only torch light allowed them to create their works of art and this is where the really detailed paintings were found.
We headed back towards Cairanne via the Ardeche Gorge, where we found a good stop to have a tailgate lunch.
This drive never ceases to amaze and also terrorize with its severe switch backs and lack of guard rails.
Our route home took us by the new home that Lilian Cebe, our market tablecloth merchant, was renovating. He gave us a warm welcome and a nice tour. His home is located just outside Travaillan, with superb views of the Dentells de Montmirail across the Plan de Dieu vineyards. We promised to come back when his project was complete.
We got back to Chez Pigeon in time for some late day sun on the terrace. La vie est belle!!!
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