Dawn of Art

Dawn of Art: The Chauvet Cave by Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps, and Christian Hillaire, translated by Paul G Bahn, 127 pages

Just before the Christmas of 1994, three French cave enthusiasts exploring the gorges of the Ardeche penetrated a large cave sealed off from the surface by an ancient avalanche, the walls of which were decorated with remarkably well-preserved drawings of a variety of animals in both charcoal and red ochre.  Later tests determined that these were made over 30000 years ago, making them the oldest figurative art yet discovered in Europe.  Dawn of Art is both the explorers' account of their discovery and a guided tour of the cave itself, with extensive photographic illustration.

One of the advantages of living in the 21st century is that a 3D virtual tour of the cave is available online, a technique which certainly exceeds the limits of conventional static photography, but this text is strong enough to enrich that resource.