The Chauvet Cave: Out of time

The moon rises above the Pont d'Arc. It lights up a path dug by the frost and erosion, overlooking the Ardèche gorges valley, leading to the original entrance to the Chauvet cave. A voice speaks to us, that of the cave. Like a sleeping beauty pulled from a very long sleep, she delivers her story in fragments: from her creation by the water flow millennia ago, at the entrance of the first animals — especially the bears who found refuge there and whose comings and goings have polished the walls - up to the first drawings traced with fingers, charcoal and ochre and its rediscovery. Passing from the starry night to the inside of the cave, the Black and white, almost cinematic images bring out the sparkling concretions, the freshness of animal tracks, the splendor drawings. Bears, cave lions, mammoths, aurochs come to life under our eyes. The beautiful text by Rémi Labrusse is like a song to which the images by Raphael Dallaporta, which are extraordinary in that they allow us to give the sensation of entering the cave with him (inaccessible to the public). With this visit outside of time, the authors ask the question of our fascination. What connects us to our ancestors from 36,000 years ago? What secrets can the cave still reveal to us? Discovery or rather " "invented" just 30 years ago, the Chauvet cave is decorated with drawings which are among the oldest known to date. The variety and sometimes the The rarity of certain animal representations (felines, bears, etc.) makes it one of the greatest jewels of Western parietal art.