Famous Caves Containing Parietal Artwork
Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, France Discovered in 1994 and dating from 30,000 BCE, Chauvet cave comprises two main parts. In the first, most pictures are red, while in the second, the animals are mostly black. The most spectacular images are the Horse Panel and the Panel of Lions and Rhinoceroses. For details and photos, please see: Chauvet Cave Paintings.
Cosquer Cave, near Marseille, France Discovered by the deep-sea diver Henri Cosquer in 1985, and dating from 25,000 BCE, the entrance to Cosquer cave is situated more than 100 feet below sea level. It contains hand stencils, charcoal drawings and about 100 polychrome paintings of horses and other animals. For details and photos please see: Cosquer Cave Paintings.
Pech-Merle Cave, Cabrerets, Midi-Pyrénées, France Discovered in 1922, and dating from 25,000 BCE, Pech-Merle is famous for its dappled horses painted in charcoal and ochre on limestone. For details and photos, please see: Pech-Merle Cave Paintings.
Lascaux Cave, Montignac, Dordogne, France Discovered in 1940 and dating from 17,000 BCE, Lascaux contains seven decorated chambers with over 2000 painted images, including the extraordinary Hall of the Bulls which, despite its name, features mostly horses as well as the male aurochs (wild cattle) from which its name derives. For details and photos, see: Lascaux Cave Paintings.
Font de Gaume, in the Dordogne Valley in France Discovered in 1901 and dating from 17,000 BCE, Font de Gaume cave contains over 200 polychrome paintings from the Solutrean-Magdalenian culture - second only in France to Lascaux in quality - featuring some 80 bison, 40 horses and 20 mammoths.
Cueva de La Pasiega, Cuevas de El Castillo, Cantabria, Spain Discovered in 1911 and dating from 16,000 BCE, the cave of La Pasiega consists of one main gallery, some 80 yards in length, with openings to several secondary galleries. Its cave art consists of over 700 painted images (roughly 100 deer, 80 horses, 30 ibex, 30 cattle, along with reindeer, mammoth, birds and fish) including numerous abstract symbols (ideomorphs) and engravings.
Cave of Altamira, near Santillana del Mar, Cantabria, Spain Discovered in 1879 and dating from 15,000 BCE, Altamira is considered by archeologists and art historians to be "the Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic Art", due to its high quality large scale wall paintings. Its ceiling is regarded as the crowning artistic achievement of the Magdalenian period. The so-called polychrome chamber houses some 30 large animal pictures, mostly bison, vividly executed in red and black pigment. For details and photos, please see: Altamira Cave Paintings.
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