French Minister of Culture Jacques Toubon thought the find so important he announced it personally in Paris last week, saying, “This is an exceptional discovery, a treasure for humanity.” That’s almost an understatement. The cavern near the little town of Combe d’Arc rivals Lascaux, and Altamira in Spain, and is likely to transform most of what little we know about paleolithic man. Unlike those at other sites, the Ardeche paintings depict mostly beasts that humans didn’t hunt, suggesting they were painted for religious or purely decorative reasons. And many of them are extinct European cousins of African animals, lending weight to the theory of an ancient land bridge between the two continents. But could the whole thing be a fraud? After all, a site in the Basque country was exposed as bogus when fragments of a synthetic sponge were found under one drawing. But French researchers say the virgin state of the cave’s floor guarantees that nobody’s been home for tens of centuries. And few people will be dropping by now. “Above all,” says Toubon, “the site must be protected.” France plans to buy the cave from its private owner, and for the foreseeable future, only experts will get access. The rest of us can be contented that our forebears included some really, really old masters.
