French cave gets UNESCO recognition

Prehistoric art found in pristine condition in 1994

A French cave containing the world’s earliest and best preserved cave paintings has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.

A marvel of prehistoric art, the Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc showcases figurative drawings of mammoths, human footprints and other art carved on its walls more than 30,000 years ago.

Experts have recorded more than 1,000 images from the walls of the cave, which was unexpectedly discovered in 1994 by Jean-Marie Chauvet, a researcher, in a limestone plateau of the Ardeche river in southern France.

The cave’s drawings had been cut off from the outside world by a rockfall about 20,000 years previously — meaning they were in pristine condition.

“They are of exceptional esthetic quality, demonstrate a range of techniques, including the skilful use of colour, combinations of paint and engraving, anatomical precision, three-dimensionality and movement,” said UNESCO. The drawings depict mammoths, bears, snow leopards, rhinos, bison and aurochs, an early type of cattle.

However, the cave will never be opened to the public because of fears of contamination by bacteria carried by humans that have blighted the walls of France’s other famous prehistoric cave, in Lascaux. A replica of the cave is under construction, and is due to open in April 2015.

France has 39 World Heritage treasures, including the Mont Saint Michel and its bay, Versailles Palace and Paris and the banks of the Seine.