The CBC interviewed one of the archeologists, Jean Clottes, who was one of the first to be shown the Chauvet Caves in France in the 1994. The cave was first explored by a group of three speleologists: Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet for whom it was named six months after an aperture now known as "Le Trou de Baba" ("Baba's Hole") was discovered by Michel Rosa (Baba).
One of the things that Clottes talked about in the interview was the assumption that art developed over thousands of years to become more sophisticated and complex over time. The caves proved that was very wrong. He said that when he saw the drawing of the horses, he was moved to tears. He could see such vitality in their eyes. He had been in the caves for 6 hours in the caves and time had stood still - there was so much presence of the inhabitants in their drawings. So the expectation that these were more sophisticated because they were more recent than the Lascaux Caves turned out to be incorrect. Lascaus is 15,000 - 10,000 old, and Chauvet is 30,000 to 32,000 years old.
We have friends in the Dordogne Valley in France near the village of Montignac where the famous Lascaux Caves are situated. For the French, these are the caves everything is compared to. They were discovered in 1940, and with public visits they had deteriorated significantly - our breathing, etc caused mould and bacteria. They had to be closed to be saved and then restored. A major tourist replica is next door.
There are much older caves than these. South Africa has the oldest - 100,000 years old - the Blombos Cave. At 60,000 years old is South Africa's Diepkloof Rock Shelter. These have more rudimentary engravings rather than the exquisite art drawings of Chauvet. One thing stands out in them. It is compelling to see the pictures of the hand prints. Such an immediate human presence but so far away in time.
The 7 oldest caves with art are listed at oldest.orgHERE. If you are interested in the oldest things - this is the website to go to. What is the oldest thing on Earth? Zircon crystals from Australia's Jack hills at about 4.375 billion years old.
Today's picture was taken in our own basement - a scene on Gerry's layout.
