Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 13.2
Upper Palaeolithic cave paintings from Chauvet Cave in southern France.
The upper image shows a pride of lions and the lower image shows a rhino from a
group of seventeen in Chauvet Cave. Both photographs by Jean Clottes and repro-
duced with permission from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (Direc-
tion régionale des affaires culturelles Rhône-Alpes). AMS radiocarbon dating has
allowed the pigments and charcoal from such images to be dated directly and this can
provide valuable insights into the nature of ice age ecosystems. Upper Palaeolithic art
in Europe has a very distinctive geography - it is mainly concentrated in the Dordogne,
Cantabrian Spain and the Rhone Valley.
