Word: chauvet
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Probing deeper into the cavern system, they began coming upon exquisite, intricately detailed wall paintings and engravings of animals, as well as numerous images of human hands, some in red, others in black pigment. "I thought I was dreaming," says Chauvet. "We were all covered with goose pimples...
Restraining their curiosity, the trio crawled back outside and resealed the tunnel entrance. "Not only to keep people out," Chauvet explains, "but to return the airflow to what it had been before; a change in the interior climate could ruin whatever was inside." Six days later they returned with better lighting and plastic sheets that they spread about to avoid disturbing artifacts on the cavern floors...
...species represented on the walls of the Chauvet cave, as it has already been named, had never before been seen in prehistoric artwork: an owl engraved in rock and a panther depicted in red pigment. The image of a hyena, also painted in red, is only the second one discovered in Stone Age caves...
Stung by lessons learned at Altamira and Lascaux, where initial unrestricted access to the caves obliterated archaeological clues and led to the rapid deterioration of artwork, the French Culture Ministry has put the Chauvet cave off limits to all but a handful of experts and installed video surveillance cameras and police guards at the entrance. "Our goal," says Baghain, "is to keep the cave in this virgin state so that research can, in theory, continue indefinitely...
...further research is needed to establish one fact about the Chauvet cave art: it was created by artists of remarkable talent. "I remember standing in front of the paintings of the horses facing the rhinos and being profoundly moved by the artistry," says Clottes. "Tears were running down my cheeks. I was witnessing one of the world's great masterpieces...