The 'Sistine Chapel of prehistory': How a 21,000-year-old cave transformed our view of ancient art

Discovered on December 18, 1994, by three amateur speleologists—Jean-Marie Chauvet, Éliette Brunel, and Christian Hillaire—the Chauvet Cave changed our understanding of prehistoric peoples. The 30-years-old discovery was hailed as a major archaeological milestone. According to France Info, it marked a revolution in knowledge about parietal art, offering a new perspective on Paleolithic artistry and transporting us more than 36,000 years back to the heart of hunter-gatherer societies in Europe.

Known as the "Sistine Chapel of prehistory" and considered the "cathedral of the Paleolithic," the Chauvet Cave houses the oldest and best-preserved Paleolithic artworks in the world. The cave's drawings date back to about 38,000 years ago.

When Chauvet, Brunel, and Hillaire squeezed through a narrow hole into the cave, they expected to find pottery but instead discovered hundreds of Paleolithic engravings in exceptional condition. They squeezed through a narrow hole at the bottom of the cave and emerged through the ceiling into a gigantic hall, where they discovered hundreds of engravings in exceptional condition, France Info explains.

The numerous paintings and engravings are not mere drawings; they convey a complex story about a people with powerful artistic sensitivity. "We will never know exactly what story the paintings of this cave tell. But what is certain is that they convey one or more myths in which humans and animals are intimately linked, within a great cycle of life," stated Gilles Tosello, a prehistorian specializing in parietal art and himself an artist, according to Futura Sciences.

For conservation reasons, the Chauvet Cave has never been opened to the public. France Info notes that only a few privileged individuals have the chance to enter each year, especially for study when the carbon dioxide level is not too high. To allow those who will never enter the real cave to experience its wonders, a life-size replica known as "Chauvet 2 Ardèche" was created. The facsimile features a selection of chosen pieces from the real cave and aims to reproduce the atmosphere of the original.

The discovery challenged previous notions about prehistoric art. Futura Sciences explains that the detailed works in the Chauvet Cave undermine the thesis of academic André Leroi-Gourhan, who proposed a linear evolution of art from simple sketches to more complex forms. The intricate and sophisticated artworks indicate that Homo sapiens of that era possessed advanced artistic techniques and symbolic maturity.

Among the identified animals depicted are mammoths, rhinoceroses, horses, and unique representations like the panther and the owl. The meticulousness of the details and the care given to the gazes and postures of the animals make the narrative vivid and captivating. The artists took care to use the reliefs of the walls to give volume and dynamism to their compositions, showing their inspiration and skill. They used natural pigments like charcoal, red ochre, and manganese in their artwork.

One of the most intriguing artworks is the "Venus" figure, where the lower part of a female body is traced on a limestone projection with a phallic shape. "The thigh and pubic triangle are clearly visible, thus highlighting the sex of a woman," explained Tosello. "But the upper body is replaced by a head of bison and that of a lion."

For 6,000 years, generations of artists entered this underground cathedral, feeding off the already present frescoes and implementing them while taking care not to distort their message. The continuity of the artistic style over such a long time reveals the existence of an effective mode of transmission within these societies. "This cave is of an incredible complexity and it has many details yet to reveal to us, of which we become aware gradually," Tosello said, according to Futura Sciences.

The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.