ABSTRACT
In December 1994 in the Ardèche in south-east France another extraordinary gallery of cave
paintings was discovered. The paintings in the Chauvet Cave include the oldest authenticated
paintings in the world and were created by the Cro-Magnon people. The oldest radiocarbon
dates are 32,410 ± 720 BP.1 These findings indicate that the paintings were made in a timespan
of 1,300 years centred on 31,000 years ago.
