Cave Art In France Believed Oldest Yet

Tests have concluded paintings of a rhinoceros and a bison in a cave in southeastern France are more than 30,000 years old, the earliest known examples of such art, the Culture Ministry said Friday.

Studies on eight samples from the cave “upset accepted notions about the first appearance of art and its development,” the ministry said. It said they were proof that humans “acquired early on the mastery of drawing, making paintings that were veritable works of art.”

The cave art in the Chauvet Grotto, in Pont d’Arc in the Ardeche region, was found last December.

French and British specialists have concluded they pre-date the oldest known cave paintings - those in the Cosquer grotto in Marseille, dated at about 27,000 years ago.

The rhinoceros and bison were dated at 30,340 to 32,410 years old.

Newer paintings in the cave were dated at 25,700 years old.