Located in southern France, the Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc is home to some of the earliest art examples. There are over 1,000 pictorial cave paintings in the Grotte Chauvet, and they depict anthropomorphic and zoomorphic motifs. One example is the Lion Panel, which depicts sixteen lions hunting seven bison. Scientists carbon-dated the 1,000 cave paintings, dating to the Aurignacian period, which lasted between 30,000-32,000 BCE. While these paintings are around 50,000 years old, they are incredibly well-preserved since a rockfall covered the cave’s entrance until 1994. In 2014, UNESCO declared the Chauvet Cave a World Heritage Site.
Categories