What Did Nature Around the Chauvet Cave Look Like 36,000 Years Ago?

Grasslands covered the landscape and trees covered developed areas, sheltered from cold winds from the north.

Regularly, the Ardèche river finds its way back because of the flow of substantial water when it melts at the end of winter or when pile-ups of materials form at the arch.

The bottom of the meander resembles a backwater, a wetland in which animals, especially megafauna, find sustenance in abundance.

Dominating this living space in the middle of the natural arch of the Pont d'Arc is the gaping porch of the cave, creating a great observation point. In addition, access to the cave and the habitat of the cave bear is thanks to this ledge leading to the cave.

Between 29,000 and 21,000 years ago, the porch of the cave was closed due to several collapses of the upper slope. The cone formed by the debris of these landslides gradually closed the cave. While the Lascaux Cave had not yet been adorned, the Chauvet Cave was already completely decorated and closed. It was only rediscovered in 1994.

Humans have witnessed this gradual closure.

The cave lion shared the top of the food chain with humans 36,000 years ago. In the Chauvet Cave, it is one of the most represented animals.

This large cat inspired our ancestors who observed them very closely, even identifying themselves with the animals, as evidenced by the sculptures of beings half human and half lion.

Larger than the African lion, the cave lion was 2.50 m (8 ft) long (without the tail). They did not have a mane. They disappeared 10,000 years ago at the end of the ice age.

People did not hunt cave lions. On the other hand, they used lion teeth to make ornaments that were worn to show prestige within the group.

The largest terrestrial animal of the last glaciation (100,000 to 10,000 years ago), the woolly mammoth was probably the best known and the most iconic animal of this period. The origins of the word mammoth comes from Estonia: "ma" for Earth and "mut" for mole. This dates back to medieval times, when the first bones were excavated.

Contrary to popular belief, the woolly mammoth was smaller than the present-day African elephant. Males reached a height of 2.60 m (8.5 ft) and weighed around four tons. The hyper-adaptation of the woolly mammoth to the very cold environment can be seen in the small dimensions of the trunk, tail, and the ears. The animal also had an anal operculum that could fold during intense cold.

The myth of mammoth hunting is not an archeological reality. People ate mammoth meat opportunistically and at occasional times. They also exploited the bones of the animal to make tools, weapons, and ornaments. In Siberia, people used the bones to make huts that they then covered with skins.

The woolly rhinoceros was not hunted and was a resource poorly exploited by prehistoric men. At the same time, the woolly rhinoceros is very rarely represented in prehistoric art. Despite this, it holds a very special place in the bestiary of the Chauvet Cave.

A very common animal in prehistory, the animal had impressive dimensions: 2 m (6.5 ft) high, up to 3.60 m (12 ft) long, and weighing around 1.5 to 2 tons. In addition, it was perfectly suited to very cold weather conditions.

With the exception of the Chauvet Cave, which is a very special case with 65 representations of woolly rhinoceros, the animal has a minor place in Paleolithic art. There are only around 20 individuals in the other adorned caves.

The bear is an animal very poorly represented in the bestiary of adorned caves. People, however, lived alongside them by sharing the same living spaces that the two species competed for. The presence of the bear in the Chauvet Cave is highly visible thanks to the many artifacts (imprints, hollows, polished walls, bones, and drawings) that have been preserved.

The morphology of cave bears is close to that of contemporary brown bears. About 2.50 m (8 ft) long and 1.30 m (4 ft) high at the shoulders, it measured up to 3 m (10 ft) high when standing on its hind legs. Its weight could reach 500 kg (1,000 lb) for large males, and 250 to 300 kg (500 to 600 lb) for females.

The decline of cave bear populations began around 50,000 to 25,000 years ago. It would seem that neither hunting nor climate change can be the exclusive explanation for the disappearance of this animal.

In Europe, there are 30 archeological sites where cave bear bones have traces of cutting, showing that bear meat could have been consumed. The animal could have been scavenged and not necessarily hunted. Its skin and teeth were used to make adornments.

There are no hard facts demonstrating that the bear held a major place in human spirituality. Examination of archeological material from european sites does not support the hypothesis of a particular symbolic place for the bear within human cultures of the Upper Paleolithic period. The bear cult, entertained since the 1920s, has not been confirmed by tangible archeological today.

There are so many bear bones in the Chauvet Cave and they are so well preserved that a scientific team has been able to reconstruct the genetic profile of an individual who died 32,000 years ago. This study found that the brown bear, polar bear, and cave bear had a common ancestor that lived 1.6 million years ago.

This giant Paleolithic deer is characterized by its enormous antlers that reached 3 m (almost 10 ft) from tip to tip. The Megaloceros deer, which disappeared around 8000 years ago, did not seem to have as major a place in Paleolithic human culture as mammoths or big cats.

This animal is known thanks to the numerous complete skeletons found in the bogs of Ireland. With a height at the shoulders of around 2 m (6.5 ft), this giant cervid (deer) was distinguished by the size of its antlers that could reach 3 m (almost 10 ft).

The Megaloceros was very poorly represented in adorned caves. In addition, we notice that the antlers are often absent from Megaloceros depictions. We can conclude that the animal held a minor place in the spirituality of prehistoric men.

Did you know?

The Megaloceros disappeared at the end of the last Ice Age. Some populations appeared to have migrated to northern Europe, where about 7,500 year old bones were found on the Isle of Man (Great Britain) and in southern Scotland. Populations could have survived until 7,000 years ago at the foot of the Urals (Russia).

In spite of its gregarious lifestyle (living in troops) and its imposing mass, the bison was a common prey of prehistoric people. Along with the horse, it is also the most represented animal in parietal art.

The steppe bison was larger than the present day bison. It stood at nearly seven feet and weighed one ton. The color of its fur is not known but it is likely to be similar to that of contemporary bison.

The bison was an iconic animal in the beliefs of prehistoric people. This large animal is very often represented in adorned caves. The Chauvet Cave contains 31 representations of bison. Most are in the large fresco of the End Chamber where they are staged as being chased by a group of cave lions.

A medium-sized big cat with short broad legs and a long tail, the snow leopard lived in Ardèche 36,000 years ago. Today this cat lives in the foothills of the Himalayas.