An interesting article about the Chauvet cave, for which a museum with a 1:1 replica will open in spring 2015, very close to the Ardèche, near Vallon-Pont-d’Arc.
Update January 2016: read more about the Chauvet cave and its grandiose replica (the largest replica in the world) on the following page:
Caverne du Pont d’Arc, the Chauvet cave museum: a quick trip to the Stone Age
“Just 12 kilometres from the holiday home in Labastide-de-Virac, culture lovers can step back into the distant times of the European Old Stone Age: hyenas and panthers dart across the rock walls, the eyes of an owl flash in the half-light, and above several fleeing horses’ heads a rhinoceros raises its extraordinarily long horn. Anyone visiting the Chauvet cave finds themselves in a surreal animal world of African steppe and Central European forest dwellers. It is remarkable how faithfully our ancestors depicted the fauna of their time. Research into the cave drawings, discovered only in 1994, is in fact still in its infancy. One thing is already certain, however: these paintings are not only among the oldest in the world, but are also unique in the world in their variety and artistic execution….”
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