Cave Chauvete, France: unique rock carvings

Rock paintings inside the caves, made in prehistoric times, are the object of research by scientists around the world. This painting is considered the progenitor of art, and amazing creations look like two-dimensional images. Today we will talk about the most impressive masterpieces left by the primitive man in a cave in the south of France, in the valley of the Ardesh River.

Closed Cave Shove

The historical monument of the country, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is closed to public access, since any change in air humidity will negatively affect the state of the ancient drawings. Only a few archaeologists who strictly observe the restrictions are allowed for several hours inside the underground kingdom, whose drawings tell about the life and way of life of ancient people.

Unique find in the south of France

The unique grotte Chauvet cave (800 meters in length) was discovered in 1994 by three speleologists who discovered a half-buried entrance to an unexamined natural masterpiece. Scientists descended from the staircase into the cave gallery, which was preserved by fragments of stones many thousands of years ago, were stunned by a unique spectacle: they found rock paintings well preserved and masterfully executed. The researchers stated that this anonymous creation of nature surpasses in its size and number of images all the previously known underground complexes of this kind.

Features of drawings and methods of their application

Cave Schove (France), named after one of the scientists who discovered it for humanity, was cut off from the outside world by fallen stones from the time of the Ice Age, as a result of which the rock paintings were perfectly preserved. The underground world consists of three spacious halls, connected by long corridors. In the two grottoes, the drawings are made with red ocher, and in the latter there are engravings and black figures.

The walls bear more than 400 images, and scientists were surprised by the fact that the primitive inhabitants of the cave drew not only the animals they hunted, but also formidable predators like the lion and hyenas. As scientists have established, here a huge number of images of rhinoceroses, not inferior to the strength and power of the mammoth.

An extinct animal weighing about three tons, whose head was wearing a tall horn more than a meter in length, was herbivorous, but very malicious, and this is evidenced by the scene of the battle of rhinos in the cave of Shove. After the studies, this figure is recognized as the oldest in the world.

"The Greatest Artists"

There is one more feature, which experts drew attention to: before applying the paint, the person carefully cleared and leveled the wall, and the images were made so skillfully that the speleologists wondered at his craftsmanship. The correct balance of shadow and light, as well as the use of proportions, are of great interest to scientists who established the age of rock paintings - about 35-37 thousand years, although the exact date still causes fierce controversy.

Specialists who studied rock art, said that the primitive man who painted this, can rightly be called a great artist. The ancient images found in France are perfect works of art, in which perspective and various perspectives are visible.

Rock paintings, made noise in the academic world

Rock paintings in Shove cave are fine examples of early Paleolithic painting, but they do not look simple and schematic, although, according to the classification of the famous scientist A. Leroy-Guran, the cave paintings had to be simple stains and lines. The French archaeologist and paleontologist, who claimed that art developed from primitive to complex, did not anticipate the appearance of rock art so late.

The well-researched Shove Cave, whose drawings turned upside down all the theories about the development of art, made scientists think about the illegality of any invented framework and classifications.

Primitive or high level of ancient artists?

French researchers suggested that primitive people were familiar with the prospect and chiaroscuro, and unusual foreshortening puzzles many specialists. As a rule, the figures looked static, and the rock finds perfectly convey the dynamics and character of the animals, which is very unusual for the Paleolithic era, and radically change the notion of primitive people.

For example, the horses depicted in the Shove Cave flee, and do not stand still, the lions hunt buffalo, and the formidable bears, and look, will pounce upon the man. And primitive artists very harmoniously included drawings in the general space of the dungeon. It turns out that initially the most ancient people had artistic abilities at a high level.

Unique cave drawings

This is surprising, since primitive people of the late era did not leave behind any traces of their presence, except for dark spots from torches. Rock paintings are also curious because they can look at images of unknown animals that history is silent about. They cause incredible interest among zoologists. For example, an extinct woolly rhinoceros here adjoins a congeners completely devoid of hair. And the lions depicted on the walls do not have the usual mane.

There are practically no drawings with people in the cave, although there are strange figures that remind not a person, but a fantastic creature with a bison head.

But, perhaps, three-dimensional images, made in the deepening of the rock, can be called the most significant. They are of great interest to specialists and implemented using methods that are not used anywhere else. Scientists claim the so-called Paleolithic animation, which is a contoured image, as if overlapping each other, and when the light of torches hit the image, it "came to life."

Research of scientists

Specialists interested in the age of the drawings reconstructed the history and found out that the cave of Shove was the object of the ancient man's activity about 37 thousand years ago, and earlier it was inhabited by bears that outnumbered modern browns. Perhaps that's why a huge number of bones found belong to a formidable predator, although some researchers claim that it was worshiped by people who professed the cult of the animal.

By the way, Shove Cave, a photo of the rock painting which will not leave anyone indifferent, was not always inhabited. About two millennia it was empty, and scientists attribute this fact to the geological changes of our planet, in particular, to rock falls.

For twenty-two years scientists have been studying the underground halls, and more than 350 studies have been conducted to establish the dating of drawings by various methods, including radiocarbon. However, according to experts, even these analyzes are not enough to establish the true age of images.

Secrets of the Underground

Cave Shove, recognized as the most significant prehistoric monument in the art world, keeps many secrets, because, as it turned out, people did not live in it, but only created pictures. And the skull of a bear on a huge stone indicates that the dungeon was used as a place of worship of animals and holding magical rituals. Scientists interpret the findings in different ways, but certain answers can not yet be given.

Copy of the cave

In 2015, there was an important event in the cultural world: a copy of the famous cave appeared in France, the entrance to which is closed, and about 350 thousand people visited the unique structure for a year. Fifty-five million euros were spent on an artificial grotto that accurately reproduced spacious halls, ancient drawings and even stalactites.

Becoming the cradle for the fine arts of Europe, the cave, the images of which copy the original source down to the smallest detail, await everyone who wants to touch the mystery of past eras.