Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Chabot Cave, also known as the Jean-Louis Cave or the Mammouth Cave, is a cave decorated with the Upper Paleolithic in Aiguèze, in the Gard. It is located in the gorges of the Ardèche, 2.3 km northwest of the village, on the right bank of the river. Several bone datings revealed an occupation between 22,000 and 20,000 years BP, attributed to the lower Solutrean, although a date at 12,000 years BP, considered inconsistent, was discarded due to subsequent pollution.

In 1878, the prehistorian Léopold Chiron searched the cave and discovered parietal engravings, which he reported in 1889. Their authenticity, initially contested, was finally recognized after the discoveries of the parietal art of La Mouthe and Pair-non-Pair in 1896. The Chabot Cave thus becomes the first paleolithic adorned cave in the world recognized by intellectual circles, a year before Altamira's paintings in Spain, contributing to the validation of the art of the higher Paleolithic.

The engravings, attributed to the Solutréen, are distributed on two panels and on the ceiling. The left panel shows mammoths superimposed among engraved lines, while the other panel combines mammoths, horses, cervids and undetermined figures. Two opposite mammoths adorn the ceiling with non-figurative features. These works, although dated from the human occupation, could not be directly linked to the engravings themselves.

The Chabot Cave has been classified as Historic Monuments since 5 February 1903. It is not open to the public, thus preserving its integrity. Its importance lies as much in its parietal art as in its historical role in the scientific recognition of prehistoric art.

External links