1/30 Chauvet Caves

The Chauvet Caves is located in southern France, near the commune of Vallon-Pont-d`Arc on a limestone cliff above the former bed of the Ardeche River. Strikingly similar to Lascaux caves, Chauvet was the canvas for art depicting copious amounts of animals of predatory nature, not like that of Lascaux cave which exclusively depicted horses, cattle, etc. The cave was first explored on December 18, 1994 by a group of three speleologists: Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, and Jean-Marie Chauvet, for whom it was named.

Found in the cave were fossilized remains, prints, and markings from a variety of animals, some of which are now extinct. The Chauvet Cave, however, is uncharacteristically large and the quality, quantity, and condition of the artwork found on its walls has been called spectacular. Also found in the Chauvet Cave, were “red ochre” handprints, similar to the handprints found in the caves of Lascaux.

Also found inside the cave were abstract markings, such as lines and dots, and images that vaguely have butterfly shapes to them. The combination of subjects have led experts to believe there was likely a ritual, shamanic or magical aspect to these paintings. Interestingly enough, it was also found that the artists who painted in the Chauvet Caves utilized a technique that others of the time period didn’t utilize : cleaning the surface of dirt and debris before painting. They also utilized etching around the painted objects, to utilize a 3-D type effect of the subjects.

What I find so interesting about Chauvet cave, is that the experts who studied these caves think that there was some ritualistic or shamanic “forces” at play. In the article on shamanism from Wikipedia (eww! I know..) it states that: “Shamanism encompasses the belief that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments/illness by mending the soul. Alleviating traumas affecting the soul/spirit restores the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. The shaman also enters supernatural realms or dimensions to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community. Shamans may visit other worlds/dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. The shaman operates primarily within the spiritual world, which in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance results in the elimination of the ailment.”

The two sentences that have relevance to me in regards to Chauvet Caves, is “Alleviating traumas affecting the soul/spirit restores the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. The shaman also enters supernatural realms or dimensions to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community.” If there were shamanic practices being utilized in these caves, is was more than likely to serve these two points. On thier vision quests, the Upper Paleolithic shamans probably were painting what they saw would help the community in some way. Depictions of predatory animals were more than likely painted to make aware of the dangers in the outside world. Paintings of (what we would now call) domesticated animals were probably an indicator to others of food, and non threatening animals. You can think of the caves as some sort of early “life university”.

Thinking about the caves of Chauvet, and meshing it with what we all learned while watching Bomb It, there isn’t really much difference in what they did, and what we do today. True graffiti artists paint to bring culture, information and joy to the world. I can only assume that’s what the people who painted in the Chauvet Caves intended to do as well. Obviously life was much different back then, but the effort and reasoning behind the wonderful artwork to this day remains the same, to bring joy, imagination, and information to everyone viewing it.