There are many similarities between the cave paintings at Grotte Chauvet Pont d’Arc and those at Lascaux. In the first place, both display similar content: bulls, aurochs, and horses, for example, are extremely prominent in both sets of cave paintings, and both also depict other animals such as felines and birds, as well as human figures. These two sets of paintings are also similar in the manner they depict their subject matter: both show animals and figures in three dimensions, and in movement, demonstrating skill in anatomical precision, shading, and other advanced techniques. Both also make use of paint in combination with etching, with figures both inscribed into the stone and painted and shaded in detail using pigments. One key difference between the sets of paintings however, lies in the frequency with which certain animals are depicted: while the paintings at Lascaux focus primarily on bison and auroch, the painting at Pont d’Arc seem to focus more on dangerous animals such as rhinos, bears, and cave lions. With regard to the dating of the two sets of cave paintings, there is debate about the age of the Lascaux paintings.
This is in part due to the fact that the Lascaux paintings needed to be dated through observation of style and context as much as through more scientific means such as radiocarbon dating; this has resulted in debate amongst experts about whether the paintings date from around 15,000-17,000 BCE or 15,000-13,000 BCE (“Lascaux Cave Paintings”). That having been said, the radiocarbon makes it likely that this range of dates is reasonably accurate. Because of the uncertainty about interpretation at Lascaux, it is easier to be sure of the dates of the Pont d’Arc paintings, which were sealed away by a rockfall around 22,000 BCE, making it certain they are from no later than that date (“Decorated Cave”). For this reason, it seems clear that the Pont d’Arc paintings are older.
- “Decorated Cave of Pont d’Arc, known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche.” UNESCO, 2017, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1426/. Accessed 17 May 2017.
- “Lascaux Cave Paintings.” Encyclopaedia of Stone-Age Art, http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/lascaux-cave-paintings.htm. Accessed 17 May 2017.
