By: HISTORY.com Editors

1940

Lascaux cave paintings discovered

TOPSHOT-FRANCE-ARCHAEOLOGY-HERITAGE-PAINTING-LASCAUX

TOPSHOT - People visit the new replica of the Lascaux cave paintings, during the first public opening on December 15, 2016 in Montignac, in the Dordogne region of southwest France, more than seven decades after the prehistoric art was first discovered. (Photo by MEHDI FEDOUACH / AFP) (Photo by MEHDI FEDOUACH/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

Published: November 24, 2009

Last Updated: May 27, 2025

Near Montignac, France, four teenagers discover a collection of prehistoric cave paintings when they stumble upon the ancient artwork after following their dog down a narrow entrance into a cavern. The 15,000- to 17,000-year-old paintings, consisting mostly of animal representations, are among the finest examples of art from the Upper Paleolithic period.

First studied by the French archaeologist Henri-Édouard-Prosper Breuil, the Lascaux grotto consists of a main cavern 66 feet wide and 16 feet high. The walls of the cavern are decorated with some 600 painted and drawn animals and symbols and nearly 1,500 engravings. The pictures depict in excellent detail numerous types of animals, including horses, red deer, stags, bovines, felines, and what appear to be mythical creatures. There is only one human figure depicted in the cave: a bird-headed man with an erect phallus. Archaeologists believe that the cave was used over a long period of time as a center for hunting and religious rites.

The Lascaux grotto was opened to the public in 1948 but was closed in 1963 because artificial lights had faded the vivid colors of the paintings and caused algae to grow over some of them. A replica of the Lascaux cave was opened nearby in 1983 and receives tens of thousands of visitors annually.

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Citation Information

Article title
Lascaux cave paintings discovered
Website Name
History
Date Accessed
May 30, 2025
Publisher
A&E Television Networks
Last Updated
May 27, 2025
Original Published Date
November 24, 2009

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