Rock Art Network Jean-jacques Delannoy Jean-Michel Geneste
Rock Art Network Jean-jacques Delannoy Jean-Michel Geneste
Rock Art Network Jean-jacques Delannoy Jean-Michel Geneste
Jean-jacques Delannoy & Jean-Michel Geneste
L'Atlas de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc
Discovering the cave through maps

Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation Chauvet Cave Art Paintings Atlas L'Atlas Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Book Publication Jean-Jacques Delannoy Jean-Michel Geneste 1/100 maps France Europe
L'Atlas de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc
Discovering the cave through maps
By the co-directors
Jean-jacques Delannoy
Professor of geomorphology at university Savoie Mont Blanc, France.
&
Jean-Michel Geneste
Former Director, National Center for Prehistory, Ministry of Culture, France.

As soon as the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave was discovered in 1994, the French government, with its experience of Lascaux and the management of a large number of decorated caves, quickly invested in the protection and conservation of the site. The Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave is now listed as a UNESCO universal property and widely accessible to the public with the Chauvet 2 facsimile opened in 2015. The Ministry of Culture, supporting the publication of a monograph, the first volume of which is an atlas, initiated a multidisciplinary research program in 1997. The research has greatly benefited from the impulse and widely publicized work of the prehistorian Jean Clottes, to whom this work is dedicated.

The Atlas is the first of four volumes of the Monographie de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc and aims to present the spirit of the research carried out in the Chauvet cave. The next two volumes will deal with the study of the cave's cave wall art; the fourth volume will be devoted to work on the numerous paleontological remains (cave bears in particular) and the relationship human-animal.

The authors chose to represent the cave through twenty 1/100 maps with texts that reflect a resolutely integrated approach to the twenty years of research by the different disciplinary fields involved in the study of the cave. This unique editorial choice explains the exceptional size of the book (340 x 480 mm; 384 pages).

Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation Chauvet Cave Art Paintings Atlas L'Atlas Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Book Publication Jean-Jacques Delannoy Jean-Michel Geneste 1/100 maps France Europe
Figure 1
The Atlas is exceptional by its dimensions (340 x 480 mm) which allow to present very detailed maps of the cave in 1/100 scale, full-page photographs of the different archives of the cave and unreleased synoptic illustrations (frieze of the evolution of the cave). (Photo J.J. Delannoy)
This first volume (Figure 1) has been conceived and constructed around three main ideas: to carefully re-situate art and the numerous archaeological remains in their physical, temporal and cultural context, to consider the subterranean landscapes as a construction combining natural facts and anthropic actions, and to present the diversity and richness of the data inscribed on the walls and floors of the cave through a federating act: cartography. Representing a cave decorated by maps was one of the challenges of this work. It is both epistemological and methodological, given the diversity of the information contained in the subterranean morphologies, in the traces and remains of fauna as well as in the signs of human frequentation on the floors and walls. However, one of the ambitions of the Atlas was not to dissociate the anthropic traces - through which we perceive human intentions - from the physical, morphological and landscape characteristics of the cave. Within this "whole" that is the cave as we perceive it today, each element occupies a specific place, has its own dynamics, in resonance with the other dimensions of the cave. The Atlas is also to give an account of each of the elements that challenge researchers and visitors within this "whole".

Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation Chauvet Cave Art Paintings Atlas L'Atlas Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Book Publication Jean-Jacques Delannoy Jean-Michel Geneste 1/100 maps France Europe
Figure 2
Example of a floor map: the Cactus Gallery. Twenty detailed floor and wall maps structure the Atlas. They allow readers to visit the cave from the entrance area to the galleries at the end of the cave. The different areas mapped highlight the diversity of phenomena and remains present in the cave. A chapter of the Atlas is dedicated to the presentation of the map legend so that the reader can be his free will in reading the maps
Maps are therefore a support for the formalization of information and a vector for mediating interactions between the various dimensions of the cave. Two types of maps, geographical and thematic, have been used in this book. These two modes of representation are both complementary and meet the requirements of any cartographic approach: making visible / making legible.

The maps present, zone by zone, the plurality of data identified on the floor, walls and ceilings of the cavity (Figure 2). Their exploratory dimension makes it possible to read the cave in detail, locate the data and provide information on their spatial distribution: phenomena that have directly impacted the cave over a very long time (last six million years) are reported, and concern fields as diverse as geological events, biological activities, residues of physico-chemical phenomena and indications of human activity.

It was also important to understand the history and evolution of the cave, before, during and after the periods of human and animal frequentation. For this purpose, an innovative cartographic representation was developed. Based on the principles of geomorphological cartography, the soil map of the Chauvet cave was drawn at high spatial resolution in order to transcribe the best possible the extreme diversity and the strong interweaving of natural phenomena and anthropic clues contained in the cave's landscapes.

This choice was above all intended for the reader so that, over the course of the twenty geographical maps, he could experience a sensation close to that of the researchers in their field of study: that of the richness and interweaving of the anthropic witnesses and the traces left in the natural architecture of the cave. Thematic maps, on the other hand, offer a distanced and analytical view that puts the information into context.

Rock Art Network Bradshaw Foundation Chauvet Cave Art Paintings Atlas L'Atlas Grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Book Publication Jean-Jacques Delannoy Jean-Michel Geneste 1/100 maps France Europe
Figure 3
Example of a thematic map. The distribution of the dated charcoal samples collected from the Chauvet cave floor. To obtain a spatially representative sample, the charcoal fragments present on the floors were randomly sampled to the greatest degree possible from al accessible spaces. Map A details the dated charcoal from the Megaloceros Gallery which contains large charcoal concentrations
They allow us to question spatial heterogeneities and to search for their causes in the field through a new quest for information that in turn enriches the content of geographic maps.

Thematic maps are the presentation media for the contexts of art and archaeology developed in this book (Figure 3). Five contexts are more particularly developed: the place of maps in the various research projects in the cave; the physical context with the understanding of the morphologies and the different conditions of the wall; the temporal context with the set of results from the different dating tools mobilized by the research; the contemporary environment of the periods of occupation; and finally the tools and methods of conservation of the cave.

This first book of the Monographie de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc also aims to present the spirit of the research carried out in the Chauvet cave. The book follows a resolutely integrated approach to the work by the different disciplinary fields involved in the study of the cave. This approach has been built up throughout the twenty years of research by the scientific team. The results obtained owe an essential part of their richness to the diversity of scientific points of view and the multiplicity of their crossings. May this philosophy of open and integrative research, developed in the study of the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc Cave", irrigate the work on other ornate sites. This edition will be followed by a document in high definition electronic format that will be more easy to handle and that will allow users to enter the maps with more detail.

L'Atlas de la grotte Chauvet-Pont d'Arc, directed by Jean-Jacques Delannoy & Jean-Michel Geneste, mobilizes more than 40 authors directly involved in the study of the cave and its conservation. It is published by the Éditions Maison des sciences de l'homme ( M.S.H.) in the "Documents d'archéologie française" collection. It can be ordered in bookstores or on the following website:
→ https://www.lcdpu.fr/cart/

Biography notes about the co-directors of the book:

Jean-Jacques Delannoy teaches geomorphology at the University of Savoie Mont-Blanc. As a member of the scientific team of the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave, he conceives a geomorphological approach focused on archaeological and conservation issues, based on high spatial resolution cartography. This approach is now being applied to other decorated sites (Australia, Canada, Spain...) where he works. He has also worked on the contents of the Espace de restitution de la grotte Chauvet (Grotte Chauvet 2 - Ardèche) and accompanied its realisation.

Jean-Michel Geneste archaeologist, was curator of the Lascaux cave, director of the National Center for Prehistory (Ministry of Culture), and scientific advisor to several archaeological museums and facsimiles of European caves and decorated shelters, including the Espace de restitution de la grotte Chauvet (Chauvet Cave 2 - Ardèche). As an archaeologist of Palaeolithic times, he has excavated numerous sites in different cultural areas (Central Europe, Siberia, Australia, North America), studying their cultures from both material and symbolic points of view. Succeeding Jean Clottes, he coordinated research in the Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave from 2001 to 2018.

Rock Art Network
→ Discover more about the Rock Art Network
→ Members and affiliated institutions of the Rock Art Network

Latest Article
→ A complex ritualised landscape: Newly discovered later prehistoric rock art and monuments in Ynys Môn, North Wales
by
George Nash

5/09/2024

Recent Articles
→ Sigubudu: Paintings of people with guns in the northern uKhahlamba-Drakensberg
by Aron Mazel
22/07/2024
→ Prehistomania
by Richard Kuba
13/06/2024
→ Women Hunters in Indian Rock Art
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
8/03/2024
→ Vingen Rock Art in Norway at Risk
by Rock Art Network
6/02/2024
→ Professor emeritus Knut Arne Helskog is awarded the King's Medal of Merit
by Rock Art Network
14/12/2023
→ Escaped slaves, rock art and resistance in the Cape Colony, South Africa
by Sam Challis
5/12/2023
→ Markwe Cave, Zimbabwe
by Aron Mazel
30/11/2023
→ Art and Influence, Presence and Navigation in Southern African Forager Landscapes
by Sam Challis
21/11/2023
→ History debunked: Endeavours in rewriting the San past from the Indigenous rock art archive
by Sam Challis
15/11/2023
→ Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and forager theories of disease in nineteenth century southern Africa, and its implications for understanding images of conflict in San rock art
by Sam Challis
10/11/2023
→ Ancient Aboriginal rock carvings vandalised
by Rock Art Network
6/11/2023
→  Two NSW men found guilty of using oily handprints to damage sacred Uluru cave art
by Rock Art Network
3/11/2023
→  Reflecting on the abundance of sheep and baboon paintings in Junction Shelter, Didima Gorge, South Africa
by Aron Mazel
2/11/2023
→  Rock Art Sites Protection and Guides Training In Satpura Tiger Reserve
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
26/09/2023
→  Rock art and frontier conflict in Southeast Asia: Insights from direct radiocarbon ages for the large human figures of Gua Sireh, Sarawak
by Paul Taçon
24/08/2023
→  Beginning of a Rock Art Journey - Recording Paintings in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg 1979 - 1980
by Aron Mazel
13/06/2023
→  Murujuga's rock art is at risk – where is the outrage?
by Paul Taçon
5/06/2023
→  Identifying the artists of some of Australia's earliest art
by Paul Taçon
15/03/2023
→ Between Monument and Water: Burial rites, location of megalithic monuments and rock art of the Kilmartin Valley, Argyll, Western Scotland (Stage 1 of the Motifs and Monuments Project)
by George Nash
14/03/2023
→ Rock Art Training and Recording Petroglyphs in Laos
by Noel Hidalgo Tan
10/02/2023
→ Unlocking a hidden landscape
by George Nash
01/02/2023
→ 'Powerful Images - Indian rock art from its earliest times to recent times'
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak, Pilar Fatás Monforte
29/11/2022
→ Signalling and Performance: Ancient Rock Art in Britain and Ireland
by Aron Mazel, George Nash
21/09/2022
→ Histories of Australian Rock Art Research
by Paul S.C. Taçon, Sally K. May, Ursula K. Frederick, Jo McDonald
07/07/2022
→ Rock Art and Tribal Art: Madhya Pradesh
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
26/07/2022
→ Marra Wonga: Archaeological and contemporary First Nations interpretations of one of central Queensland’s largest rock art sites
by Paul Taçon
20/07/2022
→ David Coulson MBE
by David Coulson
16 June 2022
→  Extraordinary Back-to-Back Human and Animal Figures in the Art of Western Arnhem Land, Australia: One of the World's Largest Assemblages
by Paul Taçon
25 April 2022
→  An online course by SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SPAFA)
by Noel Hidalgo Tan
20 April 2022
→  Cupules and Vulvas in the Alwar area, Rajasthan
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
14 March 2022
→  Color Engenders Life - Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands
by Carolyn Boyd & Pilar Fatás
02 March 2022
→  David Coulson receives RGS Cherry Kearton Award
by David Coulson
07 February 2022
→  Vandalised petroglyphs in Texas
by Johannes H. N. Loubser
06 February 2022
→  Hand Stencils in Chhattisgarh
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
05 February 2022
→  And then they were gone: Destruction of the Good Hope 1 rock paintings
by Aron Mazel
28 January 2022
→  Early masterpieces: San hunter-gatherer shaded paintings of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and surrounding areas
by Aron Mazel
8 September 2021
→  Aїr Mountains Safari - Sahara
by David Coulson
17 August 2021
→  The Neolithic rock art passage tombs of Anglesey as brand-new virtual tours
by Ffion Reynolds
21 June 2021
→ More Rock Art Network Articles

Follow the Bradshaw Foundation on social media for news & updates
Follow the Bradshaw Foundation
on social media for news & updates
Follow the Bradshaw Foundation on social media for news & updates
Follow the Bradshaw Foundation
on social media for news & updates
If you have enjoyed visiting this website
please consider adding a link © Bradshaw Foundation
 
 
Bradshaw Foundation Donate Friends
LATEST ARTICLE
Bradshaw Foundation Donate Friends
RECENT ARTICLES
Bradshaw Foundation Donate Friends
→ Sigubudu: Paintings of people with guns in the northern uKhahlamba-Drakensberg
by Aron Mazel
22/07/2024
→ Prehistomania
by Richard Kuba
13/06/2024
→ Women Hunters in Indian Rock Art
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
8/03/2024
→ Vingen Rock Art in Norway at Risk
by Rock Art Network
6/02/2024
→ Professor emeritus Knut Arne Helskog is awarded the King's Medal of Merit
by Rock Art Network
14/12/2023
→ Escaped slaves, rock art and resistance in the Cape Colony, South Africa
by Sam Challis
5/12/2023
→ Markwe Cave, Zimbabwe
by Aron Mazel
30/11/2023
→ Art and Influence, Presence and Navigation in Southern African Forager Landscapes
by Sam Challis
21/11/2023
→ History debunked: Endeavours in rewriting the San past from the Indigenous rock art archive
by Sam Challis
15/11/2023
→ Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and forager theories of disease in nineteenth century southern Africa, and its implications for understanding images of conflict in San rock art
by Sam Challis
10/11/2023
→ Ancient Aboriginal rock carvings vandalised
by Rock Art Network
6/11/2023
→  Two NSW men found guilty of using oily handprints to damage sacred Uluru cave art
by Rock Art Network
3/11/2023
→  Reflecting on the abundance of sheep and baboon paintings in Junction Shelter, Didima Gorge, South Africa
by Aron Mazel
2/11/2023
→  Rock Art Sites Protection and Guides Training In Satpura Tiger Reserve
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
26/09/2023
→  Rock art and frontier conflict in Southeast Asia: Insights from direct radiocarbon ages for the large human figures of Gua Sireh, Sarawak
by Paul Taçon
24/08/2023
→  Beginning of a Rock Art Journey - Recording Paintings in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg 1979 - 1980
by Aron Mazel
13/06/2023
→  Murujuga's rock art is at risk – where is the outrage?
by Paul Taçon
5/06/2023
→  Identifying the artists of some of Australia's earliest art
by Paul Taçon
15/03/2023
→ Between Monument and Water: Burial rites, location of megalithic monuments and rock art of the Kilmartin Valley, Argyll, Western Scotland (Stage 1 of the Motifs and Monuments Project)
by George Nash
14/03/2023
→ Rock Art Training and Recording Petroglyphs in Laos
by Noel Hidalgo Tan
10/02/2023
→ Unlocking a hidden landscape
by George Nash
01/02/2023
→ 'Powerful Images - Indian rock art from its earliest times to recent times'
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak, Pilar Fatás Monforte
29/11/2022
→ Signalling and Performance: Ancient Rock Art in Britain and Ireland
by Aron Mazel, George Nash
21/09/2022
→ Histories of Australian Rock Art Research
by Paul S.C. Taçon, Sally K. May, Ursula K. Frederick, Jo McDonald
07/07/2022
→ Rock Art and Tribal Art: Madhya Pradesh
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
26/07/2022
→ Marra Wonga: Archaeological and contemporary First Nations interpretations of one of central Queensland’s largest rock art sites
by Paul Taçon
20/07/2022
→ David Coulson MBE
by David Coulson
16 June 2022
→  Extraordinary Back-to-Back Human and Animal Figures in the Art of Western Arnhem Land, Australia: One of the World's Largest Assemblages
by Paul Taçon
25 April 2022
→  An online course by SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SPAFA)
by Noel Hidalgo Tan
20 April 2022
→  Cupules and Vulvas in the Alwar area, Rajasthan
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
14 March 2022
→  Color Engenders Life - Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands
by Carolyn Boyd & Pilar Fatás
02 March 2022
→  David Coulson receives RGS Cherry Kearton Award
by David Coulson
07 February 2022
→  Vandalised petroglyphs in Texas
by Johannes H. N. Loubser
06 February 2022
→  Hand Stencils in Chhattisgarh
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
05 February 2022
→  And then they were gone: Destruction of the Good Hope 1 rock paintings
by Aron Mazel
28 January 2022
→  Early masterpieces: San hunter-gatherer shaded paintings of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and surrounding areas
by Aron Mazel
8 September 2021
→  Aїr Mountains Safari - Sahara
by David Coulson
17 August 2021
→  The Neolithic rock art passage tombs of Anglesey as brand-new virtual tours
by Ffion Reynolds
21 June 2021
→ More Rock Art Network Articles
Bradshaw Foundation Donate Friends
Support our work & become a
Friend of the Foundation
 
 
 
Bradshaw Foundation YouTube
Rock Art Network
Rock Art Network
Rock Art Network
Bradshaw Foundation Donate Friends
LATEST ARTICLE
Bradshaw Foundation Donate Friends
RECENT ARTICLES
Bradshaw Foundation Donate Friends
→ Sigubudu: Paintings of people with guns in the northern uKhahlamba-Drakensberg
by Aron Mazel
22/07/2024
→ Prehistomania
by Richard Kuba
13/06/2024
→ Women Hunters in Indian Rock Art
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
8/03/2024
→ Vingen Rock Art in Norway at Risk
by Rock Art Network
6/02/2024
→ Professor emeritus Knut Arne Helskog is awarded the King's Medal of Merit
by Rock Art Network
14/12/2023
→ Escaped slaves, rock art and resistance in the Cape Colony, South Africa
by Sam Challis
5/12/2023
→ Markwe Cave, Zimbabwe
by Aron Mazel
30/11/2023
→ Art and Influence, Presence and Navigation in Southern African Forager Landscapes
by Sam Challis
21/11/2023
→ History debunked: Endeavours in rewriting the San past from the Indigenous rock art archive
by Sam Challis
15/11/2023
→ Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and forager theories of disease in nineteenth century southern Africa, and its implications for understanding images of conflict in San rock art
by Sam Challis
10/11/2023
→ Ancient Aboriginal rock carvings vandalised
by Rock Art Network
6/11/2023
→  Two NSW men found guilty of using oily handprints to damage sacred Uluru cave art
by Rock Art Network
3/11/2023
→  Reflecting on the abundance of sheep and baboon paintings in Junction Shelter, Didima Gorge, South Africa
by Aron Mazel
2/11/2023
→  Rock Art Sites Protection and Guides Training In Satpura Tiger Reserve
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
26/09/2023
→  Rock art and frontier conflict in Southeast Asia: Insights from direct radiocarbon ages for the large human figures of Gua Sireh, Sarawak
by Paul Taçon
24/08/2023
→  Beginning of a Rock Art Journey - Recording Paintings in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg 1979 - 1980
by Aron Mazel
13/06/2023
→  Murujuga's rock art is at risk – where is the outrage?
by Paul Taçon
5/06/2023
→  Identifying the artists of some of Australia's earliest art
by Paul Taçon
15/03/2023
→ Between Monument and Water: Burial rites, location of megalithic monuments and rock art of the Kilmartin Valley, Argyll, Western Scotland (Stage 1 of the Motifs and Monuments Project)
by George Nash
14/03/2023
→ Rock Art Training and Recording Petroglyphs in Laos
by Noel Hidalgo Tan
10/02/2023
→ Unlocking a hidden landscape
by George Nash
01/02/2023
→ 'Powerful Images - Indian rock art from its earliest times to recent times'
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak, Pilar Fatás Monforte
29/11/2022
→ Signalling and Performance: Ancient Rock Art in Britain and Ireland
by Aron Mazel, George Nash
21/09/2022
→ Histories of Australian Rock Art Research
by Paul S.C. Taçon, Sally K. May, Ursula K. Frederick, Jo McDonald
07/07/2022
→ Rock Art and Tribal Art: Madhya Pradesh
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
26/07/2022
→ Marra Wonga: Archaeological and contemporary First Nations interpretations of one of central Queensland’s largest rock art sites
by Paul Taçon
20/07/2022
→ David Coulson MBE
by David Coulson
16 June 2022
→  Extraordinary Back-to-Back Human and Animal Figures in the Art of Western Arnhem Land, Australia: One of the World's Largest Assemblages
by Paul Taçon
25 April 2022
→  An online course by SEAMEO Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SPAFA)
by Noel Hidalgo Tan
20 April 2022
→  Cupules and Vulvas in the Alwar area, Rajasthan
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
14 March 2022
→  Color Engenders Life - Hunter-Gatherer Rock Art in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands
by Carolyn Boyd & Pilar Fatás
02 March 2022
→  David Coulson receives RGS Cherry Kearton Award
by David Coulson
07 February 2022
→  Vandalised petroglyphs in Texas
by Johannes H. N. Loubser
06 February 2022
→  Hand Stencils in Chhattisgarh
by Meenakshi Dubey-Pathak
05 February 2022
→  And then they were gone: Destruction of the Good Hope 1 rock paintings
by Aron Mazel
28 January 2022
→  Early masterpieces: San hunter-gatherer shaded paintings of the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg and surrounding areas
by Aron Mazel
8 September 2021
→  Aїr Mountains Safari - Sahara
by David Coulson
17 August 2021
→  The Neolithic rock art passage tombs of Anglesey as brand-new virtual tours
by Ffion Reynolds
21 June 2021
→ More Rock Art Network Articles
Bradshaw Foundation Donate Friends
Support our work & become a
Friend of the Foundation
 
 
 
Bradshaw Foundation YouTube
Rock Art Network
Rock Art Network
Rock Art Network
Bradshaw Foundation iShop Shop Store
Bradshaw Foundation iShop Shop Store
Bradshaw Foundation iShop Shop Store