![]() ![]() His 3D documentary film, Cave of the Forgotten Dreams, premiered in theaters in the United States in spring 2011. Because of the cave’s uniqueness, the Ministry decided it would not be opened to the general public however, as curiosity mounted about it, film director Werner Herzog was granted special permission from the French minister of culture to film inside the cave. Although initially quite skeptical, he made a careful inspection and ultimately authenticated the drawings as Paleolithic rock art. The day after this, Jean Clottes (epigraph), general inspector for archaeology at the French Ministry of Culture and scientific advisor for prehistoric rock art, visited with 2 associates to authenticate the cave art. The explorers returned with other colleagues in the ensuing days to photograph and videotape the interior of the cave, and then on December 28, they formally announced their findings. The cave was subsequently named Chauvet Cave after the lead explorer, and chambers inside were named for Brunel and Hillaire. Moving deeper into the cave, they would encounter the masterful Panel of Horses (cover). Eliette called out to draw the others' attention to a drawing of a red mammoth elephant prehistoric people had been there before them! Higher still was a large painted red bear, and beneath it on the cave floor were ancient bear bones and skulls. The cave floor was covered by sparking white calcite and dozens of depressions in the floor they recognized as“nests’’ for hibernating cave bears, now extinct. All were well aware of the damage that human intrusion could bring, knowing of damage done by tourist visitors to other such caves. They descended by ladder to the cave floor and walked single file in the darkness in one another's footprints to avoid disturbing this pristine cave. After the others joined her, the spelunkers shouted to measure the resonance of the echo of their voices and were rewarded when their sounds were lost in the immensity that lay before them. She called out that she saw the floor of a cave 30 feet below. At 6:30 PM, Eliette, the smallest of the 3, with arms outstretched before her,“wriggled” 1 (p35) into the narrowness, using the light on her helmet to guide her. Moving forward, they perceived a current of air that encouraged them to continue. They removed the rocks around the cavity and climbed inside, finding themselves in a sloping vestibule with a low ceiling. The opening was 30 inches high and about 10 inches wide. ![]() Photo credit: Wolfgang Ruppert/Art Resource, New York.Īrriving at the limestone cliff about 3 PM that afternoon, the spelunkers followed an ancient mule path that led to a narrow ledge and then advanced through dense vegetation until they noticed a cavity in the side of the white cliff wall about 6 feet up from the ground. Lascaux cave, Montignac, Dordogne, France. Drawing on rock (black pigment, manganese oxide) length of bison, 103 cm. Solutrean/Early Magdalenian era (22 000 to 17 000 BP). ![]() The region is a nature reserve where the landscape, with its magnificent natural arch over the river bed, the plants and trees (lavender, heath, evergreen oaks, box trees, and Spanish junipers), and animals all are federally protected.įigure. 1 The 3 discovers were engaged in a systematic in-depth exploration of the caves in this region of France and had drawn up an inventory of promising archeological sites not previously visited. Inside they found what is believed to be the world's oldest known representational art. On December 18, 1994, three French friends, Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, and Christian Hillaire, all experienced spelunkers, discovered a decorated cave in the side of a limestone cliff between the Cévennes and Rhone valleys at Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, Ardèche, France, above the old river bed. It is a fantastic panel indeed! I was the first specialist to see it on 29 December 1994, and I vividly remember my deep emotion particularly in front of the horses' heads!-Jean Clottes (written communication, July 1, 2011) Shared Decision Making and Communication. ![]() Scientific Discovery and the Future of Medicine.Health Care Economics, Insurance, Payment.Clinical Implications of Basic Neuroscience.Challenges in Clinical Electrocardiography. ![]()
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