'Prehistoric Sistine Chapel' gets world heritage status (BBC)

A cave in southern France dubbed the "prehistoric Sistine Chapel" has been added to Unesco's World Heritage list.

The 1,000 drawings carved in the walls of the Decorated Cave of Pont d'Arc, or Grotte Chauvet, are 36,000 years old and include mammoths and hand prints.

Cave experts only discovered it in 1994 as the entrance had been concealed by a rockfall 23,000 years earlier.

It was one of several cultural and natural wonders granted the status by a committee of delegates in Doha, Qatar.

UN cultural agency Unesco said the cave, located in the Ardeche region of France featured "the earliest and best-preserved expressions of artistic creation of the Aurignacian people", who were believed to be the first modern human culture in Europe.


Banksy at work ?
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-27978440
http://lacavernedupontdarc.org/the-cavern-pont-darc/ (NB: clicking on the Union Jack icon didn't change the captions from French, except for the cave videos labels. YMMV.)