Out of all the great mysteries on Planet Earth, few can be more enticing than cave art. And few samples of cave art are more stunning than that found in the Chauvet Caves of France.
Discovered in 1994 by three speleologists, the paintings in these caves, generally believed to be somewhere between 25,000 and around 32,000 years old, the work is stunning. The artistic talent is obvious even to those with no training or even particular interest. How could it not be, when you see brilliant renderings of instantly recognizable lions, rhinos, hyenas and other animals long extinct in Europe if not the entire world.