ABSTRACT
In 1994, three cave explorers discovered a previously undocumented cavern in the Gorges de l’Ardèche of southern France. Within it they found some of the oldest cave paintings ever created. Immediately recognizing the importance of the site, the French government restricted access to what is now called Chauvet Cave. To date, only a handful of people have ever entered it. One of the few non-scientists given access was filmmaker Werner Herzog, who documented his experience in his 2010 film Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Ciuffo, Nelson, and Herzog). Herzog describes seeing the cave paintings:
Dwarfed by these large chambers illuminated by our wandering lights, sometimes we were overcome by a strange irrational sensation as if we were disturbing the Palaeolithic people in their work. It felt like eyes upon us. This sensation occurred to some of the scientists and also the discoverers of the cave. It was a relief to surface again above ground.
