- Hardcover: 135 pages
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd; 1st Edition edition (25 Mar 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0500017069
- ISBN-13: 978-0500017067
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,748,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
On 18th December 1994, three cavers were inspecting sites in the Ardeche, southern France, when they came across the hidden entrance to an underground cavern. Inside, they picked out traces of colour on the cave walls: pictures of a mammoth, a huge bear, rhinoceroses and lions. Here, in this hidden network of underground caverns, was a collection of 300 wall paintings, and traces of man dating back 30,000 years. They are the oldest examples of prehistoric art ever found - some 15,000 years older than those at Lascaux - and the cave had remained undisturbed for so long that the even the footprints in the floor were those of Stone Age man. This text recounts this discovery and presents a series of photographs of the cave paintings. The images are particulary impressive in terms of the techniques used to present perspective and motion: many figures interact with each other; some are staggered; others are drawn on bulges in the cave wall to further suggest depth. An epilogue by Jean Clottes, a prehistoric art specialist, provides an analysis of the paintings, and sets them in context. Now that the cave is closed to the public, this book provides an opportunity to view the paintings at first hand, revealing the mastery of our Stone Age ancestors.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The cave is close to the public, this guide is the closest thing you can get to a personal visit.
It is a great, detailed guide, with a lot of high quality pictures that are truly fascinating.
I strongly recommend this book. Can't imagine someone not liking it, or not dreaming or wowing whilst reading it.
It is a great, detailed guide, with a lot of high quality pictures that are truly fascinating.
I strongly recommend this book. Can't imagine someone not liking it, or not dreaming or wowing whilst reading it.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a documentation of the discovery of a series of caves in 1994 by Jean-Marie Chauvet et al. Caves across which lions race, rhinoceros lock in combat, horses canter amoung bear, deer and mammoth - all completed by the hand of an ancestor.
The numerous plates are of excellent quality which mirror the exceptional quality of the drawings - so remarkable are they, one might indeed wonder at their authenticity - a subject to which this book goes in some detail.
But before you plan your next holiday to Pont d'Arc be reminded that, alas, these caves are closed to the public, so those interested must rest content with this beautiful record.
The numerous plates are of excellent quality which mirror the exceptional quality of the drawings - so remarkable are they, one might indeed wonder at their authenticity - a subject to which this book goes in some detail.
But before you plan your next holiday to Pont d'Arc be reminded that, alas, these caves are closed to the public, so those interested must rest content with this beautiful record.
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Warning: this book and Return to Chauvet Cave are the same book by different names.
Intelligent account and revealing photos of the discovery and still ongoing excavation of Chauvet Cave: Jean Clottes, one of the chief archaeologists of Chauvet, writes lucidly and modestly about the project, the history and significance of Chauvet, and the whole context of Paleolithic humans in Europe.
Chauvet contains the earliest known cave paintings as well as the oldest known footprints of an anatomically modern human. The Chauvet images - dated to a staggering 30,000+ years ago - are tens of thousands of years older than those in the caves at Altamira and Lascaux (approx 14,000 to 18,000 years old), yet they are in no way "primitive" in comparison .
Even more astonishing is the skill and sophistication, both technically and aesthetically, of the paintings and engravings of mammoths, cave lions, horses, rhinoceri, and elk, representations that are vivid and fabulously impressionistic.
Intelligent account and revealing photos of the discovery and still ongoing excavation of Chauvet Cave: Jean Clottes, one of the chief archaeologists of Chauvet, writes lucidly and modestly about the project, the history and significance of Chauvet, and the whole context of Paleolithic humans in Europe.
Chauvet contains the earliest known cave paintings as well as the oldest known footprints of an anatomically modern human. The Chauvet images - dated to a staggering 30,000+ years ago - are tens of thousands of years older than those in the caves at Altamira and Lascaux (approx 14,000 to 18,000 years old), yet they are in no way "primitive" in comparison .
Even more astonishing is the skill and sophistication, both technically and aesthetically, of the paintings and engravings of mammoths, cave lions, horses, rhinoceri, and elk, representations that are vivid and fabulously impressionistic.
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