RT Journal
A1 Harris JC
T1 Chauvet cave: The panel of horses
JF Archives of General Psychiatry
JO Archives of General Psychiatry
YR 2011
FD September 1
VO 68
IS 9
SP 869
OP 870
DO 10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.114
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2011.114
AB 
On December 18, 1994, three French friends, Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, and Christian Hillaire, all experienced spelunkers, discovered a decorated cave in the side of a limestone cliff between the Cévennes and Rhone valleys at Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, Ardèche, France, above the old river bed. Inside they found what is believed to be the world's oldest known representational art.1 The 3 discovers were engaged in a systematic in-depth exploration of the caves in this region of France and had drawn up an inventory of promising archeological sites not previously visited. The region is a nature reserve where the landscape, with its magnificent natural arch over the river bed, the plants and trees (lavender, heath, evergreen oaks, box trees, and Spanish junipers), and animals all are federally protected.