autographed

This is an amazing book! I don't think I've ever lingered over a book as much as I have this one. The incredibly detailed descriptions of the artwork draw you to repeatedly examine each photograph. I find this book even more fascinating because it includes a study of the cave's floor as well as the parietal art.
This book is a fascinating journey into the past depicted by the most extraordinary photographs!
I highly recommend this book for your personal collection. ( )

This is as good as it gets. Thirty scientists involved in the carefully designed project, under the direction of an eminent brave and thorough "pre-historian", assemble in teams to study one of the most important and best-preserved of the decorated caves. Breath-taking photographs capture the treasure preserved for some 37,000 years.

Even the location is breath-taking. The horizontal plateau of the grape-growing Bas-Vivarais contrasts with the vertical cut of the Ardeche river rejoining the Rhone Valley. A rock bridge, the Pont d'Arc, is a geologically unique gateway over the river which cuts through the limestone mass, in which there are hundreds of caves. The rough riparian river cut would make a perfect hunting sit.

The Chauvet, named for its 1994 discoverer, is located in the cliffs of Cirque d'Estre in the adjacent meander of the river, with geophysical profiles much the same for the last 400,000 years.[16]

The cave and performance art installations were installed by a people who were advancing "consciousness". They did not inhabit the caves, but worked scenes and danced in them. They lived in shelters built against the rock palisades above the running waters. Their art does not reflect any worship or even a passing interest in gods, kings, hierarchies, or even material goods. Gravidity and food appear abundantly important.

There is one, only one, disappointment with this book. I am a bit perplexed by the omission of experts on mushrooms, herbs, and evidence of psychotropic influences and eye-lid art. Or even a "religious" expert. Clottes' detailed observations about the way the depicted animals are facing, and how many profiles "look human", provide the basis for juicy speculations about a "binary" universe. However, he seems to miss the point -- none of them point to any historical religion. The existence of early depictions of life without any Father-Storm-God, and without a Green Mother Goddess, clearly challenge the ontology of all known Religions. Absent evidence of any human hierarchies of authority, royalty, slaves, or priesthoods.

In addition, all of the mind-altering aspects of possible psychotropic herb or mushroom use are depicted on the walls. Understanding the origins of consciousness is one of the goals of the exhaustive study. ( )